But he's charismatic as hell.

Well, if you like. He reminds me of an Amway salesman with pretensions of avuncluarity, but maybe that's just me.

He's also a very determined individual, as evidenced by his recovery from the gunshot wound.

They keep calling Obama the Anti-Christ. Is there some way the above could be worked into eschatology?

Just wondrin'.

How much momentum an Atkinson run will have in 2010 will be just as much contingent upon what Oregon Democrats do in the legislature as it is on Atkinson's campaign.

I believe that the Democrats with their currently going hog wild over all the new taxes will get the Republican base out to vote in 2010 in of itself.

My take is that Democrats should be more considerate of their policy proposals in order to keep the momentum for future election. What flys in Portland, OR that becomes the pet project of a Democrat legislator in Salem sure as hell don't and never will fly in Pendleton, OR.

YOM--- "Democrat legislator" marks you as a Republican.

Ron Wyden is a Democrat. He was elected as the first DemocratIC US Senator from Oregon in over a quarter century in the 1996 special election.

Does Atkinson have a plan to make Jackson County (and other mostly rural counties) viable ?

Does he have a big idea other than funding education before anything else?

Does the humbling experience of a major medical problem have the same positive effect on him that it had on Ben Westlund (who was pretty much of a smart aleck his first session as state rep.?).

Can Atkinson win the votes of those his age and younger who voted for Obama in 2008?

Does he have a vision for the future and a plan to carry it out? Can he run a campaign where he gives the kind of positive vision Obama gave rather than just nasty attacks on anyone not an anti-tax evangelical Christian?

Candidates are responsible for their own words and actions. Only intellectually lazy people base a political career on what is wrong with the other party rather than a vision for the future and a plan to carry it out.

And about Portland vs. downstate, look at which Republicans voted for the Oregon stimulus package. Winters of Salem and Nelson, Garrard, Jenson, Smith all from E. of the Cascades.

My view is that Democrats should discuss specific issues. If Republicans believed in treating the minority in a way that " should be more considerate of their policy proposals in order to keep the momentum for future election", we would not have had to endure the Minnis/Scott years. Use the Google window here at BO to look up all the posts about those 2.

Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Feb 9, 2009 10:17:55 AM

an exploratory committee

What the hell is an "exploratory committee"? They were created for presidential politics as a way of getting around campaign finance limits. But Oregon doesn't have any campaign finance limits.

Is it just a cute way of saying "I'm running but I don't want to announce it just yet"?

Posted by: Steve Maurer | Feb 9, 2009 10:49:09 AM

Is it just a cute way of saying "I'm running but I don't want to announce it just yet"?

Signs point to yes.

So, are Oregon Dems now using a Ouija Ball to prognosticate?

LT,

Wow you are feisty. I hit a nerve there didn't I?

As for all your questions, I don't know and am apt to answer 'no' as I am not privy to the Gubernatorial plans of Jason Atkinson.

I am sorry, but I don't agree that 5 Republicans out of 36 state legislators represents bi-partisanship or an absolute affirmative that policies and ideas in Portland, OR will be enthusiastically welcomed in places like Ontario, OR. Joseph, OR maybe, but definitely not Pendleton or Ontario.

As for calling me a Republican, if that helps you get impassioned in criticizing and marginalizing my point of view, then go ahead and stifle minority opinions. That ain't very progressive now is it?

Or is it that diversity only extends to race, religion and sexuality whereas diversity of opinion is an abomination that must be criticized and marginalized by attaching it to negative labels in hopes that it disappears?

I ain't going nowhere and I enjoy our salvo :)

YOM, where do you live?

"I am sorry, but I don't agree that 5 Republicans out of 36 state legislators represents bi-partisanship or an absolute affirmative that policies and ideas in Portland, OR will be enthusiastically welcomed in places like Ontario, OR. Joseph, OR maybe, but definitely not Pendleton or Ontario. "

Have you talked to people in Ontario (I've known people who live there) or Pendleton (a friend grew up there) and asked them what they want? Or are you assuming?

If you have read BO over the years, you will know that folks in the Marion-Polk-Yamhill area get angry with Portlanders.

What specific ideas, YOM do you believe the residents of Klamath Falls, Pendleton, Medford, Ontario, Hood River, Waldport would support?

I'm one of those people who voted for Measure 65. I'd be happy to have a nonpartisan legislature---the Public Comm. on the Legislature did well being nonpartisan.

What I don't like is the idea of someone on a blog claiming to know what people in communities other than the one they live in would want as a stimulus without asking them.

Ted Ferrioli made a crack that deferred maintenance was only low priority items--others would have been fixed by now.

Salem-Keizer just passed a bond measure to do deferred maintenance and maybe build more schools some day if the need is there and there is money from the bond measure available after all the maintenance is finished.

Does Sen. Ferrioli understand the Willamette Valley?

Off topic.

I wanted to email you this off line, Carla, but you don't post a contact on this site that I can find. Carla and I had a discussion about whether senator Wyden was "Excellent" on torture. Basically she said yes and I said hardly.

We have a nice test coming up. Obama has just agreed with the Bush Doctrine of state secrets when it applies to state sanctioned torture and rendition.

If Wyden is "excellent" on torture we should hear condemnation from him shortly on some national venue. If he is "good" we will see something on his website, and maybe a local broadcast on how he rejects this. If he is ambiguous (equivalent to a tacit supporter) we will here nothing.

Any bets?

Any bets?

Regardless of his political party, or how being shot by someone other than Dick Cheney helps or hinders him, Atkinson is a phony.

He reeks of self-importance, yet commands little respect in the Oregon State Capitol.

What exactly has he done as a State Senator again?

By all means, encourage the ego-laden one to run for higher office.....it'll stimulate the economy.

Gordon Smith could take Atkinson out.

Oh, wow. A man date.

Republicans are really neat with man dates. Though it might end like all those ones on Blind Date did (oh, how we miss that show!)

This is the best news progressives can hope for. We need to do everything we can to assure that Mr. Bean gets the GOP nod for governor.

Oh -- it's JASON Atkinson, not Rowan, eh?

Sorry.

Here's the difference between Oregon Democratic Party and the Oregon GOP:

The former knows it's running candidates in Oregon, the latter thinks it running them in Oklahoma.

i think jason atkinson could beat sex predator sam adams for govenor

i think jason atkinson could beat sex predator sam adams for govenor

LT, Just ignore YoungOregonMoonbat.

Not that I'm making direct accusations... but his arguments, lexicon, sentence structure, and grammatical errors all closely resemble those usually of Washingtonian Ted Piccolo of NWRepublican.

Note that he failed to answer your implicit question and the similarity becomes even more striking.

(Not to mention that an actual Oregonian usually doesn't put a "OR" after city names. But someone who lives in Washington State might...)

Atkinson: creepy, and not in the good way. :-)

Posted by: RRW | Feb 9, 2009 4:32:04 PM

Off topic.

That's OK. Just don't say S.A.M. and it won't get deleted.

Not that I'm making direct accusations... but his arguments, lexicon, sentence structure, and grammatical errors all closely resemble those usually of Washingtonian Ted Piccolo of NWRepublican.

Not to mention fondness for the term "moonbat". Quick survey of 7 people show that 4 first saw it in print on NWRepublican. Yeah, they don't get out a lot.

Like the ,OR bit, it's hard for some to realize that we don't check in occasionally just to hear what Rush is saying.