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A Close Race Drives "Candidates Gone Wild" to Expand the Field
Candidates Gone Wild, Portland's staple election-year showcase of local candidates, is inviting 10 City Hall contenders to its April 28 edition at the Roseland. They are mayoral candidates Sam Adams and Sho Dozono; plus City Council candidates Nick Fish and Jim Middaugh in the race for Seat #2; and council candidates Jeff Bissonnette, John Branam, Mike Fahey, Amanda Fritz, Charles Lewis and Chris Smith in Seat #1. That adds up to more than the seven candidates the CGW committee had originally planned to determine with an online "let the people decide" poll. Here's how the committee got to this point. We hoped an online poll would be a fair way of winnowing a total field in the three races of 24 candidates. The idea: to avoid a cattle-call event in which candidates don't get enough time to distinguish themselves while trying to be as inclusive as possible. The online poll asked voters to select a total of 7 candidates, from the three races: Mayor and the two City Commissioner positions being vacated by Sam Adams and Erik Sten. Thousands of people logged their preferences in the several weeks that the poll was open. But when the poll closed on Thursday, April 10, the CGW team saw strong community support for all six candidates in the race for City Commissioner position #1. That, plus some confusion on our part as to when the polls closed, led us to invite all six candidates. In the other two races, differences between the winning candidates and other contenders were more significant. 2159 votes separated second-place mayoral candidate Sho Dozono from the next vote-getter. In the other City Commissioner race, the margin was more than 1600 votes. "An online poll isn't scientific," said Caitlin Baggott, a member of the Candidates Gone Wild planning team. "It seemed within the margin of error that the seat #1 race was essentially a tie — especially considering the results for the other two races." Focused on providing an irreverent look at politics and getting young people to vote, Candidates Gone Wild is an unusual part of the Portland electoral tradition. Since first opening in 2002 as "Jabbin' at the Aladdin," the event has drawn thousands of young people to each show. Past events have included a candidate talent show in which City Commissioner Dan Saltzman programmed a VCR and also a high stakes "board room" interrogation, where candidates are asked how many jobs they would cut from City government to whose jobs would be lost. Additionally, the event showcases local independent filmmakers and musicians. |
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Candidates Gone Wild! Is Back
The most unusual political circus, er, debate, in the country is back. And it promises to be wilder than ever. Since 2002 Portlanders have looked forward to this irreverent approach to local candidates and campaigns. On Monday, April 28, at the Roseland Theater, host STORM LARGE will preside over our latest political cage match. This time, the races for Portland's mayor and City Council and the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate are at stake. Candidates will be grilled, skewered and fricasséed (and then they will be asked questions). They will share their non-political talents. They will justify their political existence. The evening will also include exclusive short films with a political bent, including contributions from those clever kids at Wieden & Kennedy. "Debate the issues, get to know your candidates, drink a lot of beer. That's our mission statement," says Mark Zusman, editor of Willamette Week. Portland's alt-weekly and the Bus Project are once again the proud presenters of CGW. CGW 2008 comes with a twist: With more than 30 people running for mayor and City Council, this year the CGW committee decided to let people vote for who they want invited to the event. Starting Saturday, March 15, visitors to CandidatesGoneWild. com will be able to vote—just once—for the seven candidates they would like to see onstage. The winners will be announced on April 10. Candidates Gone Wild tickets go on sale Monday, March 17, at the insanely high price of $4. They can only be purchased at the offices of Willamette Week, 2220 NW Quimby St., or at Bus Project HQ, 333 SE 2nd Ave. Candidates Gone Wild takes place at the Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., Monday, April 28. |
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Political News from WWire
Hillary Clinton at OHSU: Be Glad It Was Invitation-Only May 9 2008 2:35pm After this morning’s Hillary Clinton show at OHSU’s children’s hospital, her Oregon campaign steering committee chair, Josh Kardon, tried to make me feel guilty. “You can say whatever snide, cynical stuff you want about the Clinton campaign, but don’t say it about this event,” said Kardon, standing next to a large teddy bear, carefully placed for [...] Tribal Gambling Fracas Goes You-Tubal May 9 2008 2:33pm Here’s the latest salvo in the battle over whether the Warm Springs tribe should be allowed to site a casino in the Columbia River Gorge town of Cascade Locks. One of the criteria the feds will consider in the tribe’s application is whether the casino would be located within commuting distance from the rez. Proponents [...] Look at the Big Brain on Barack!: Obama Takes Tech-Sector Questions in Beaverton May 9 2008 11:17am Hours after defeating reporters in a vicious game of Taboo, Barack Obama swung into Oregon for two days of stumping—and started his visit at a Beaverton tech-sector office park, where he took questions from software-designer employees. The immediate lessons? Unlike other people he could name, Barack Obama believes in science. And he’s already started campaigning [...] Superdelegate DeFazio Boards the Obama Train May 9 2008 9:40am The trickle of superdelegates flowing toward Barack Obama has been joined by one more Oregon congressman. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Springfield is set to appear with Obama at a town-hall meeting in Albany today, DeFazio spokeswoman Molly Simmons tells WWire. In Albany, DeFazio will announce his endorsement of Obama in the Illinois senator’s bid to outrace Hillary [...] Sisters of the Road pulls out of SAFE committee May 8 2008 10:44pm This morning, Sisters of the Road announced in a press conference outside of City Hall it was ending its involvement in the Mayor’s Street Access for Everyone (SAFE) oversight committee. “It’s a question we wrestled with a long time,” says Michael Buonocore, Sisters’ Associate Director, who said that Sisters had been debating for months about whether [...] Novick backed by Big Booster? May 8 2008 3:17pm At this point in the political season, it’s not unusual to see campaign signs making strange flower-bedfellows (such as the Obama-Ron Paul pairing I passed today). But a fortuitous placement of a public-service billboard at the corner of Northeast 28th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard makes us wonder if Steve Novick, the 4-foot-9-inch Democratic candidate for [...] Fish, Middaugh Go All Passive-Aggressive May 8 2008 12:40pm The top two contenders in the race for former Portland City Commissioner Erik Sten’s seat—Sten’s old chief of staff, the fire-juggling Jim Middaugh, and labor lawyer/beat poet Nick Fish—are on the air now. Middaugh bought a radio spot. Here’s the audio and here’s (some of) the script: “Hi, this is Jim Middaugh, and I’m running for Portland [...] Portlanders Hoping to See Barack or Hillary May Be SOL May 8 2008 11:58am We were as excited as anyone to hear the Democratic presidential candidates were planning to be in town at the same time on Friday morning. But it turns out the public may not be invited to see either candidate speak. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton just announced in dueling news releases that they’re holding closed-door meetings May [...] Hillary Clinton Coming to Portland (and what it has to do with a man named Lee) May 7 2008 2:54pm The campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton announced this afternoon that she’ll be coming to Portland for a to-be-determined event this Friday. No details yet on what she’ll be doing in Portland, but the visit comes after she’ll be spending tomorrow evening in southern Oregon participating in a town hall at the Jackson County Fair Grounds [...] Dozono Takes Credit for Killing Adams’ Bike Bridge—And He’s Probably Right (Updated) May 7 2008 2:44pm This morning, Portland mayoral candidate and Commissioner Sam Adams dropped his controversial $5.5 million plan to plop the old Sauvie Island Bridge over I-405 at Northwest Flanders Street. The “recycled” bridge would’ve been dedicated to bicyclists, walkers and the otherwise un-motored. The reason, he said, was new information from the Portland Office of Transportation, which Adams [...] O as in Obama and Oregon: Democratic front-runner coming this weekend May 7 2008 7:53am Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama is returning to Oregon this Friday and Saturday, his campaign announced this morning. No details yet on the where’s and when’s. We’ll update this when those details become available. While we wait, any thoughts on whether Hillary Clinton will pull the plug on her campaign before Oregon’s May 20 primary? Two [...] OMG!!! Chelsea Clinton to Hit Local Lesbian Bar Next Tuesday May 6 2008 12:52pm I guess the Red Dress Party was just a warm up. Just got word there is a very strong possibility that my new friend Chelsea Clinton is heading back to Portland for a very special appearance on Tuesday, May 13. Chelsea will be collecting ballots alongside out and very proud recording artist Sophie B. Hawkins. Where will they [...] U.S. Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley and Oregon’s Thorny Tradition of Nepotism May 5 2008 5:37pm U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley has repeatedly told voters one thing about his wife Mary Sorteberg (standing by her man, above) in his race against opponent Steve Novick and several other candidates in the Democratic primary. In TV ads and public appearances, he’s stressed the theme that his wife is a nurse. It’s all part of [...] Voter Flawed: Uncounted Reviewed May 5 2008 2:21pm David Earnhardt’s documentary Uncounted gets a one-night engagement at 7 pm at Cinema 21 tonight. We strongly recommend you spend that time outdoors; it’s a very nice day. Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections I first began to suspect that David Earnhardt’s documentary on voting irregularities might be somewhat irregular itself when I noticed that the [...] Mannix Drops Anti-Marijuana Ballot Initiative May 5 2008 11:38am Conservative ballot-measure supremo Kevin Mannix just told WWire he and his cohorts are dropping a proposed ballot initiative to kill the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. “That petition’s going to stop this week,” Mannix says. There was not enough time or money to gather the 82,769 valid signatures needed, he says. “That’s the best news I’ve had all [...] Updated: “The Law” threatens to sue Elaine Franklin in a State House Race May 5 2008 10:05am Update: Here is candidate Phyllis Thiemann’s response to Matt Lindland, her rival for the Republican nomination in House District 52,’s demand for an apology: From: “Phyllis Thiemann” Date: May 5, 2008 4:57:12 PM PDT To: “‘Matt Lindland’” Subject: In Response to Your Letter May 5, 2008 Dear Matt, I too filed to run for State Representative in House District [...] Ninth Annual Million Marijuana March Burns Through Downtown May 4 2008 9:20pm Rolling out at high noon May 3, the Ninth Annual Million Marijuana March smoked through downtown Portland as part of Oregon NORML’s protest of pot prohibition and to support the use of medicinal marijuana through Oregon’s sometimes controversial Medical Marijuana Act. Cops gathered on Broadway. Lights were flashing. Signs were waving. A cool drizzle was settling [...] Wu Opponent Hobbs Folk-Rocks The House Tonight May 2 2008 9:20am There was an oversight in our endorsement of Will Hobbs for Congress, which Phil Stanford of the look-on-the-sunny-side-Trib and a commenter at Bojack have both tried to make up for—we didn’t name Hobbs’ band. It’s Wheatfield (and that’s Hobbs on the far right, with the mandolin). They’ve got a MySpace page with a few songs and this [...] West-Coast Ports Shut Down as Part of May Day War Protest May 1 2008 4:55pm Ahh, May Day in Portland. Nothing new for our fair city to see protests and strikes on International Labor Day, but something new today was who was walking out of work and why. As part of coordinated actions up and down the West Coast to protest the war in Iraq, the Portland chapter of the [...] Ballot SNAFU May trip-up thousands of newly registered Democrats (Updated with additional Sec of State comment) May 1 2008 3:28pm One of the big stories this political season is the unusually large number of Oregon voters who changed their registration to participate in the hotly contested May 20 Democratic primary between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama—including several thousand in Multnomah County. But now Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, the state’s top elections official, says that [...] Cogen Gains the County a Seat at the PDC May 1 2008 2:33pm Score one for Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen in his efforts to give the county a seat at the table in the Portland Development Commission. The county Board of Commissioners today unanimously approved a cooperative agreement that allows the county to appoint a member to PDC advisory boards when decisions are made about creating or extending [...] Accused Of Skullduggery, Adams Campaign Calls Dozono A ‘Serial Deadbeat’ April 30 2008 6:23pm Mayoral candidate Sho Dozono tried to change the subject this afternoon after accusing his opponent—who WW endorsed today—of trying to change the subject. Check this out, at the bottom of the Dozono campaign’s press release announcing he’ll pay back the $18,000+ he owes the city in rent for his restaurant, Bush Garden: “It is interesting [...] More Video Gone Wild: WW’s $150,000 scamdidate, Randy’s raw talent April 30 2008 5:20pm After Monday night, I’m half-convinced that next time there will be a new rule: What happens at Candidates Gone Wild stays at Candidates Gone Wild. Until then, I get to share mock videos from CGW like this one, which includes a cigar-chomping WW editor Mark Zusman scheming to scam the voters out of 150 [...] More candidate video gone wild: Amanda “Iron Woman” Fritz, Charles “Tuff Gong” Lewis April 29 2008 10:35pm A couple more must-see videos from the talent section of last night’s Candidates Gone Wild event: Amanda Fritz channels Ozzy Osbourne, with the help of her husband, Steve Charles Lewis takes on Bob Marley (check out the swaying lighters and cell phones) In case you had trouble making out Fritz’s lyrics in the first video, she has posted [...] Mayoral TV, Bought And Unsought April 29 2008 3:54pm Mayoral candidate Sho Dozono has a $60,000 broadcast ad buy on the way. As yet, Dozono’s camp isn’t offering a sneak preview. But we’re guessing they’re not going to air with this: Or this: The Dozono campaign recently made a direct mail buy through a top-flight firm that’s working for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. His broadcast media [...] |
