[fieldmarshaldj]

OR Governor's race *ping*

I thought Mannix was the front-runner, as he only barely lost to Kulongoski in '02. I never heard claims that Mannix was a RINO until this thread, he was formerly a DINO who was too Conservative for the 'Rats.

[OregonRepublican]

Well if they think Mannix is conservative they havent seen Atkinson. Atkinson from day one says hes against Illegals, well Mannix says he is... his campaign manager says other wise.

[Clinging Bitterly]

The reason Mannix was hated by the other Dems was because of his authoritarian tough on crime stance. He left the party and joined the GOP only after the 1994 Republican takeover.

Now, Mannix has been popular in the GOP and has even become the state party leader, but a lot of us don't think it was smart of the party to embrace him so wholeheartedly.

In the legislature time and again Mannix has earned the reputation of a tax & spend big government Democrat, whether or not he is reported as such in the media. And his authoritarian stance is demonstrated in his record as well.

Both of those things are kind on un-Republican if you ask me. And in spite of the fact that he helped carry our shall issue through the legislature as a Democrat (before the movement that brought about shall issue in places like Texas and Florida), he carried with it the provision for background checks & waiting periods that are the model for the Brady Bill, and at the end of the day he is more anti gun than our present Dem Gov Kulongoski.

In other words, he's a RINO driven only by a lust for power, and in my opinion, electing him would deliver us our own little Hitler.