Free Republic

Oregon's richest man said he would do whatever he could to end Democrats' 40-year hold on the state and prevent its nominee Tina Kotek winning the race to be the next governor. Last week, Phil Knight, the billionaire co-founder of Nike, donated $1 million to Republican candidate Christine Drazan after bankrolling the campaign of an independent who has turned the election into a toss-up. Analysts said his two-horse strategy suggested Knight was intent on keeping the Democrat out of the governor's mansion. A swath of the electorate in this liberal state has turned on the outgoing Democratic governor, blaming her...

Oregon is typically known as a bastion of West Coast liberalism, where Democrats are easily elected and a Republican hasn’t served as governor since the early 1980s. But with an unusually competitive three-way contest for governor, the Democratic candidate’s success is hardly a guarantee this year. As mail-in ballots become available to voters next week, Oregon is becoming the unlikely site of one of the most competitive governor’s races in the country. The main reason for the race’s unpredictability is Betsy Johnson, a longtime former Democratic lawmaker with a fondness for salty language who is aiming to become the first...

Nike co-founder Phil Knight has donated $1 million to elect Republican Oregon gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan in an increasingly tight race against Democrat Tina Kotek. Knight’s donation to Drazan’s campaign comes after he donated $3.75 million to Independent candidate Betsy Johnson, signaling his strong dislike for Tina Kotek. Republican strategist Rebecca Tweed told KGW Knight’s donation said the two donations are not meant as an endorsement of either candidate but rather an attack against the Democrat candidate. “It’s not really $1 million toward Drazan or $3.75 (million) towards Betsy. It’s $4.75 (million) against Tina Kotek,” Tweed told the outlet. “Each...

As part of his effort to bring awareness to the vast network of Chinese slave labor camps, Enes Kanter has again addressed Nike Owner Phil Knight asking him to stop using Chinese slave labor to make Nike’s products. In a Tuesday tweet, Kanter wrote, “How about I book plane tickets for us and let’s fly to China together. We can try to visit these SLAVE labor camps, and you can see it with your own eyes.” He also invited LeBron James and Michael Jordan along on the trip.

“Whatever the details of the investigation are, this much is clear to me: There was a villain in this tragedy. It lies in the investigation, not in Joe Paterno’s response to it,” Knight said, prompting a prolonged standing ovation from the crowd in the Bryce Jordan Center on the Penn State campus. Despite Paterno’s actions, “he was excoriated by the media and fired over the telephone by his university. Yet in all his subsequent appearances in the press, on TV, interacting with students, conversing with hospital personnel, giving interviews, he never complained, he never lashed out. Every word, every bit...

Jan. 10 EUGENE, Ore. — Here's a tip: If you're cashing paychecks from the University of Oregon, treat Phil Knight with unabashed love; even genuflect at his Nikes if the occasion calls for it. Just don't tick him off or, heaven forbid, fall shy of grandiose designs for his beloved alma mater — lest you might end up following Martin Smith down Interstate 5. >>>>>> Knight, who historically has been reluctant to discuss his philanthropy, declined to be interviewed for this story. But over the last decade, the father of modern sports marketing, the guy whose push-the-envelope company sold us...