Wow. Lake Oswego went for Kitzhaber.
Kari Chisholm
I have a confession to make. I grew up in Lake Oswego.
Working in Democratic politics, that's not something one usually admits. After all, when folks think of LO, they usually think of a wealthy bedroom community -- as I've often said, it's "banker, doctor, lawyer" country. (Lake Oswego High School is located, to the delight of opposing teams' fans, on Country Club Road.) And that typically means Republican country. When I was growing up, our state legislators included rabid-dog Republicans Randy Miller and Bob Tiernan.
But it turns out the stereotype isn't exactly true.
Just today, I was chatting with another LO native who works in politics - and we were musing aloud about how big Chris Dudley's blowout must have been there. "Hey, it's not just Republican, it's ground zero for Dudley fans," I said. "After all, he was the assistant basketball coach at LO High."
Visiting family and friends there throughout election season, and I was stunned by how many Dudley signs were around. Literally, every corner had a Dudley sign. The sheer volume was surprising, but the fact that he was seemingly doing well wasn't.
But thanks to Jeff Mapes at the O, we now know the election results:
Chris Dudley had 8716 votes, but John Kitzhaber won with 9092 votes in Lake Oswego.
Hot damn. Those of us Lake Oswego natives who work in Democratic politics -- and there's quite a few of us -- can hold our head up a little higher now.
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11:02 p.m.
Nov 22, '10
it's probably because they know him through the LO Chamber. Like us.
11:04 p.m.
Nov 22, '10
Familiarity can breed contempt, that's true.
But Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) got 2000 more votes in L.O. than did Scott Bruun (R-West Linn).
Something's going on in Lake Oswego.
11:18 p.m.
Nov 22, '10
did Sonya piss you guys off? she gets message that says she's not allowed to post?
11:09 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
I think your policy on posting is crystal clear. Sonya followed your rules to the letter, and you blocked her which is bullsh!t.
I'm done with BO until you actually start following YOUR own rules. Bye.
11:40 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
Bruce, I think I figured this out. Sonya said she posted under a false name (no last name), which if you read the "how to participate" rules violates them. I've read comments elsewhere that limiting participants to full real names on BO has dramatically cut participation. I'm sympathetic to Sonya's reluctance.
11:55 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
My argument is that she followed the rules to the letter. She is NOT anonymous. Sonya Lee IS her name. You can find her in a facebook search. Bruce Couch is NOT my "full name" but you can find me on FB via a FB search. Therefore I should be blocked as well. I assume Sally Schott is not your "full name".
My point is that if the measure of identity is FB, then BO is being selective by blocking her.
As I said, this is bullsh!t. I'm f'ing done.
12:13 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
My counterpoint is that she didn't follow the rules to the letter. She said, "I basically use a fake name (I drop my last name) and I have a cat avatar." That was her last post. The "rules" say
"Our new commenting system is designed to use real identities to create meaningful dialogue. And to do that, we're using Facebook as our authentication system. Why Facebook? Because it's the only place on the internet where tens of millions of Americans use their real identities."
She "outed herself," I guess. I may not like the rules but I don't see any inconsistency.
3:13 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
The by-laws say, BO opted to go from anonymous posting to FB linked posted (meaning you can log in with you FB account). My friend's FB account omits her last name. She takes this security precaution because a) she is a woman, and b) she has a business to protect, which supports her family. She was explaining the reasons for her security measures, in a post on the site, when the owner of the site blocked her.
Sonya Lee is a vocal Democrat & blogger, who has much to contribute to discussions of liberal activism & ideals. Yet, her voice has been silenced because she chose to protect her identity online. This is not only ridiculous, it flies in the face of the progressive ideals you claim to advocate for.
3:26 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
I hope your disagreement is directed to Blue Oregon, not me. I was just trying to help Bruce Couch out because he appeared not to understand what had happened. I remembered Sonya from a prior thread and looked it up.
3:34 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
let me point out the ultimate hypocrisy of this policy. My friend TA Barnhart is a writer for this blog. He comments here. He is not blocked. yet Sonya Lee who maintains a fully functions FB page just as TA does is blocked. She is every bit as accessable and as public. She is as anonymous as TA.
4:28 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
"T.A." is not my first name; Hope is not my middle name. if i'm ok to post here then Sonya should be too. she's not being anonymous; she's easily found & knowable.
6:45 p.m.
Nov 24, '10
Is Barnhart your last name? It's one thing to use T.A and another thing to not use your last name.
5:46 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
Please tell me you understand that I was not defending the policy; I was trying to explain it simply from what I had read. I have no standing on or with Blue Oregon.
6:53 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
Sorry Sally everything I'm speaking to hear is directly aimed at Kari.
7:02 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
hear=here duh... I hate it when I do that.
8:41 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
Seems he has decided that everything he has to say is posted under the participation guidelines. If anyone could get his attention further it would probably be Mr. Barnhart.
Thanks for your response. I really was trying to help. :)
12:45 a.m.
Nov 24, '10
Hey everyone. I've been in touch with Sonya by email.
Our policy is quite clear. We require real names. Sonya admitted in a comment that she wasn't using her real name here.
She's posted her thoughts on her own blog - so I won't characterize her comments for her.
Her arguments for being anonymous online are all good and legitimate. She has a blog and she's welcome to be whoever she wants there. But on BlueOregon, we've made a decision - after several years of deliberation - that we want to insist on real identities.
By "real identity", we don't mean "Facebook identity" or "internet avatar". We mean real identity. What people on the street, or in the pub, or at work, or at church call you. Facebook is an imperfect method for establishing that - but the best one we've got so far, given that we're not going to charge money to comment (credit card authentication), or open an office and check IDs.
11:13 p.m.
Nov 22, '10
After seeing Dud at Chamber functions we were stunned when we heard he was running... he seemed to be a nice guy but he had nothing to offer. We worked more to defeat him than to support Kitz.
6:38 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
I know Lake O has had more Democrats registered than Republicans for awhile now. Both my State Representative (Chris Garrett) and State Senator (Richard Devlin) are Democrats.
Besides, this is the city where Bruce Springsteen was first married (though I suspect the place where he was married is not a hotbed of Democrats).
6:39 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
Kari, you may want to edit out this line in your "nerds rule" post:
"Dudley lost Washington County by 1.6% while winning Clackamas County by over 9%. Even setting aside a big win in his hometown of Lake Oswego"
7:15 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
Just FYI, in the '08 primary the cities I won were Portland, Corvallis, Astoria and ... Lake Oswego! Even in the context of a primary, that too seems counter to the stereotype.
2:39 p.m.
Nov 30, '10
I'm pretty sure it was my yard sign that did it, Steve. :)
9:41 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
This didn't happen by accident. A group of very dedicated Precinct Committee Persons did their job in Lake Oswego!
9:44 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
Not surprising. I lived in LO for 18 years. People there value schools and education. And I was there when the switch happened to voting for Dems in the legislature. They got sick and tired of the attack and defunding of public education. I imagine people in LO are smart enough to see that that big tax break Duds was promising was not going to paid for and would have come out of public education. Bob Tiernan will convert anyone from a Republican to Democrat.
9:47 a.m.
Nov 23, '10
"Something is happening in LO."
Yes, what is happening is the death of moderate Republicanism. The professional pro-business moderate Republican is turned off by the nihilism of the extremist tea-bagger rabid right.
4:41 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
I don't think it's that surprising, really. I believe it came down to experience. I've talked with many Republicans who voted for Kitzhaber based solely on experience.
6:36 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
and many Dems voted Dudley b/c of the Kitzhaber experience.
11:21 p.m.
Nov 23, '10
True, Michael. But at least Kitzhaber had "true" governmental experience, even if you disliked or disapproved of his past leadership.
6:57 a.m.
Nov 24, '10
Several thoughts: I took a fellow out of my FB friends because I discovered he was actually anonymous. Previously I had seen him write here, too. I wrote to him on email but he preferred to remain anonymous. My vote is for people to give their names and stand behind what they say. Otherwise the tendency seems to be for the discussion to turn to flame throwing. Not always, but often.
LO. Unfortunately we got stuck with Mike Kehoe for city council who is practically a founding member of the Tea Party. You will also see bumper stickers about America rediscovering liberty with pictures of Jefferson and Washington. So we have a little of that here.
Remember LO is diverse. There are certainly people here who are not doctors, lawyers and wealth managers. But I think the general level of education and the relative affluence has been used to get at problems, to repair, to maintain, to create.
One quick story: we had a family picnic at George Rogers Park. I work and most of my children live in NPDX. One of my daughters asked me if I had brought the sand toys to the park. I said no, they must belong to the park for any kid to use. She shook her head and said, boy, they would be so stolen in no time in NPDX. I agree. Call it what you want and lecture about income disparity, but it's far less stressful to live where there is a more pervasive sense of community. May it spread everywhere.
And Jill is right. There is a strong core of progressive workers in LO.
2:40 p.m.
Nov 30, '10
I'm pretty sure LO voted AGAINST one man/one woman, as well. That's as much a hallmark of "surprising liberalism" as anything, but I prefer to consider it simple decency and common sense.