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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.

"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."

You might've made a viable argument, but the last sentence invalidated the whole thing. Comparing Mannix to a "little Hitler" is the kind of over-the-top rhetoric we'd expect from DU'ers and not respected FReepers. Remember, Mannix WAS the Conservative candidate for Governor last time over liberal RINOs like Ron Saxton and Jack Roberts, and it was the Libertarian candidate that denied Mannix an outright victory in the general. I believed that Mannix deserved one last shot at the job given the closeness of that contest, and Kulongoski is damaged goods and VERY defeatable this time.