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PORTLAND -- Students are trying to get a Portland school renamed after President-elect Barack Obama. Portland Public Schools was already in the process of renaming the school currently known as “Clark K-8 at Binnsmead School” and a naming committee is working on a list of suggestions that the public will eventually vote on. But after the November election, some of the students go the idea to throw Obama’s name into the ring. A couple of people have e-mailed the school, suggesting it be named after the new American leader and Willamette Week was even reporting that students at the school...

A sizable chunk of the vote in the Oregon Senate race between Republican incumbent Gordon Smith and Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley has not yet been counted, but The Oregonian is calling the race for Merkley. Though Merkley only holds a lead of 2,000 votes, most of the uncounted votes are from heavily-Democratic counties. If this projection holds up, that would give the Democrats 57 seats to the Republicans' 40. In the three other races still up in the air, GOP incumbents are poised to hold on to their seats by razor-thin margins, and thus help sustain the Republicans' ability to...

WASHINGTON — With the majority of votes from Democratic strongholds in Multnomah and Lane counties yet to be counted, incumbent U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith held a less than 1 percentage point lead over Democrat Jeff Merkley, as of 3 a.m. today. Both candidates said the contest was too close to call and urged their supporters to check back later this morning. Smith led Merkley 47.25 percent to 46.92 percent, according to vote totals from the state elections division. About 43 percent of votes statewide had been reported late Tuesday evening, but just 27 percent of votes in Multnomah County and...

Oregon Constitution Party Probably Tips U.S. Senate Race November 5th, 2008 Only three candidates were on the ballot for the Oregon U.S. Senate race, nominees of the Democratic, Republican, and Constitution Party. It appears likely that the Constitution Party tipped the outcome in this race. Although the votes counted (as of 2:30 pm Pacific time) show Gordon Smith (Republican) leading, the vast bulk of uncounted votes are from Multnomah County, which includes Portland and is very Democratic-leaning. The results now are Smith 663,126; Jeff Merkley (Dem.) 658,409; David Brownlow (Constitution) 75,968. Over 190,000 votes remain to be counted from Multnomah...

Gordon H Smith (Republican) 676,642 48.34% Jeff Merkley (Democrat) 641,864 45.86% Dave Brownlow (Constitution) 77,148 5.51% Write-in Votes 4,037 0.29% _________________ _________________ Totals: 1,399,691 100%

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Democrat Jeff Merkley has ousted Republican Gordon Smith from his U.S. Senate seat, The Oregonian projects. Merkley, a five-term state lawmaker and former Habitat for Humanity director, took advantage of a surge of Democratic support to win a close, bitterly fought battle with Smith, who has served 12 years in Washington. Despite the closeness of the count, expert number crunchers said they expect Merkley to win. Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts, appearing as an analyst on Fox News(12), outright called the race for Merkley, based primarily on how many votes remain uncounted in Democrat-rich Multnomah County. He stuck by that call...

There are 140,000 votes left to count in Multnomah county which will go almost two to one for his opponent. There are nowhere near enough other outstanding votes for Smith. Thus, he'll lose by roughly 30,000 votes and yet another RINO is toast.

While control of Congress certainly will not shift back to the Republicans, the sixty vote threshold in the Senate for breaking the perpetual Republican filibuster is within reach for the Democrats, although it is still a long reach. One contest the Democrats probably have to win if they are to reach filibuster-proof status is the race between two-term incumbent Republican Gordon Smith and his Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley in Oregon, a state where Barack Obama holds a consistent and wide lead over John McCain in the polls. The popularity of Obama in Oregon has not been lost on Smith. "Smith...

Afternoon team Mark Mason and Dave Anderson at talker KEX (1190) asked listeners to donate through "SaveJoeThePlumber.net", and they came through - enough to pay off Joe Wurzelbacher's $1,200 bill for back taxes to the state of Ohio, and enough to help him get his plumber's license (another $500). Mason tells the Wall Street Journal they had both Joe and his brother on the air, and Joe "was very grateful for the $$." Joe the Plumber became an overnight sensation for both sides of the presidential debate last week, when John McCain kept bringing up the effect of Obama's tax...

Barack Obama is, without question, the more charismatic and better-funded presidential candidate. Because newspaper endorsements are supposed to recognize substance, however, we urge Central Oregonians to support John McCain. His long experience in Congress argues in his favor, as do his leanings in crucial policy areas from taxation to energy. Obama, for all of his personal appeal, has served less than four years in the U.S. Senate. This would matter less if Obama had performed spectacularly during that period. But he hasn’t. He has sponsored no truly noteworthy piece of legislation. He has demonstrated no willingness to reach across the...

My Oregon vote by mail ballot arrived today. I turned it around in about 10 minutes and drove it to a blue box for pick up today. I was so excited I posted my first ever thread. So, please forgive the vanity outburst, but I feel like an early skirmisher or something.

A new SurveyUSA poll suggests Oregon's Senate race may be shifting in the direction of Democrat Jeff Merkley. The poll, broadcast on KATU's noon news, showed Merkley with 46 percent to 41 percent for Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. Constitution Party candidate David Brownlow had 7 percent and the remaining 6 percent were undecided. The margin of error is 4.1 percentage points, plus or minus.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Authorities have arrested two men after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a 4-foot by 8-foot campaign sign for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in a southeast Portland yard. Karen Scrutton said she was asleep inside her home at 7956 S.E. 17th Ave. in the Sellwood neighborhood when she saw her sign go up in flames after 1 a.m. "I screamed upstairs to my husband, 'Jean! Jean!" she said. A neighbor heard a crash and chased off one of the suspects. Jean Scrutton said his son-in-law found another suspect not far away. Not long after, investigators picked...

PORTLAND, Oregon, October 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied a father's appeal to keep his six frozen embryos alive, and ordered that the embryos be destroyed by thawing, as ordered by his ex-wife.  The court also ruled that the embryos' fate fell under the issue of "property rights."The court unanimously agreed that the father, orthodontist Dr. Darrell Angle, had no right to "impose a genetic parental relationship" on his ex-wife, pediatrician Dr. Laura Dahl, who did not wish to be considered the mother of the preborn children in the event that they were carried...

Oregon Senator Gordon Smith is in dangerous territory again, virtually tied with Jeff Merkley, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. The incumbent Republican holds a statistically insignificant 46% to 45% lead over Merkley. The race is now the closest it’s been since regular tracking began in February. Just one month ago, Smith had an eight-point lead but still received under 50% support from voters. Any incumbent senator who polls under 50% is considered vulnerable. In July, Merkley was ahead 43% to 41%.

Repeating a pattern seen across the country, John McCain has gained ground on Barack Obama in Oregon. In August, before the running mates were selected and the conventions held, the Democrat enjoyed a ten-point lead in this traditionally “Blue” state. Now, however, McCain has pulled to within four points with results that are virtually identical to the actual Oregon vote in Election 2004. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Oregon voters shows Obama attracting 51% of the vote while McCain earns 47% (see crosstabs). This is the seventh Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Oregon for Election 2008, and it’s...

Obama Maintains 7 Point Advantage Over McCain Following Conventions On Monday Sept 8th and Tuesday Sept 9th, the Hoffman Research Group surveyed a crosssection of Oregon voters to ascertain voter preferences in the Presidential election following the two major party conventions. The resulting data found Barack Obama currently leading John McCain by a 46% to 39% margin. Ralph Nadar and Bob Barr who will both appear on Oregon ballots drew 1% and 1% respectively. When pushed, undecided voters split almost evenly between the two major candidates. Not unlike most of the nation, McCain fared best in the more rural areas,...

OREGON CD-1: Businessman Joel Haugen announced Tuesday he was withdrawing as the GOP nominee but would remain in the race against Congressman David Wu (D) as the nominee of the Independent Party. Although a registered Republican, Haugen had been running with dual ballot spots. Haugen came under fire in recent days when he announced his support for Barack Obama. The deadline for GOP to replace a nominee has passed, so they will not be able to field any candidate against Wu on the November ballot.

Consumer activist Ralph Nader has found an unconventional way to get on Oregon's ballot this year: He will be the presidential nominee of a brand-new party.