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Election 2010: The Morning After
Our election night show is over and we have yet to know who the next governor of Oregon will be. Republican Chris Dudley and Democrat John Kitzhaber are neck-in-neck with Dudley having only a very slim lead with 49 percent of the votes compared to Kitzhaber's 48 percent. It is likely that as our show airs in the morning we still will not know who the next leader of our state will be.
We do, however, know that our Congressional representatives — David Wu, Greg Walden, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt Schrader — will hold on to their seats even amidst some stiff competition. Senator Ron Wyden will also, not surprisingly, be returning to Washington.
We also know that many of the state ballot measures — including annual sessions and minimum sentences — passed, but the controversial measure to approve dispensaries for medical marijuana and the casino measure did not.
In Washington, Republican Jamie Herrera won the 3rd Congressional District, so will join a raft of new Republican House members in D.C. early next year. Washington'sSenate race between Republican Dino Rossi and incumbent Democrat Patty Murray remains, like Oregon's gubernatorial race, too close to call.
As the morning comes we'll stay on top of the election news, bring you analysis, and get your reaction to the results.
Did the people, and measures, you voted for win? What was the greatest victory in your mind? What was the greatest loss?
Tagged as: 2010 election
Photo credit: Silly Dog / Creative Commons
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Thanks for posting that. I had not seen that list.
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Has any candidate, from either party, said anything about the wars that are draining America and destroying people abroad?
Has any candidate said anything about the prospect of $100 oil, with higher prices to follow?
I don't think either party has a clue about where this country is going.
One reason the Roman Empire collapsed was that the people who were responsible (the rich and the military) had such a stranglehold on the political system, that no one was allowed to correct it.
Are we there yet?
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Results that match (so far) almost exactly what I had written down a week ago. Portland is predictable.
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I am embarassed and appalled that the Governor's race is so close. It boggles my mind that 60-65% of men voted for a gubanatorial candidate without any qualifications over a candidate that obviously does. Thank goodness for the 60+% of women that did not share the short-sightedness of the the men. And why would state treasurer and all the federal democrats be so easily elected and not the Dem governor??? What happened there??
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John Kitzhaber has done nothing for the state of Oregon in the last 8 years. Ted Kulongoski spun his wheels giving out tens of millions of dollars in energy tax credits that have only benefited large energy companies. What did Kulongoski do to improve the state's economy? Oh yeah now he's in Iraq with members of the Oregon Forestry Department. There are no forests in Iraq! Why would anyone vote Democrat?
Many Americans voted for Barrack Obama. A man with no voting record in the Illinois state legislature and no accomplishments in the U. S. Senate. What did he do prior to the Illinois legislature? Oh yeah, he was a community organizer. Truly qualified to be president.
Chris Dudley has extensive business experience and no political baggage. He would not have bowed to all the public employee unions. Kitzhaber is their pawn. He will do nothing to trim state spending. Look for new taxes to pay for public employee benefits.
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I think cfbednarek pretty much sums up the uphill battle Kitzhaber was fighting. Experience cuts both ways, and moderates and independents may not have been able to support him after the last eight years of Kulongoski (who I personally would NOT support or vote for again).
Also, Dudley's attack ads were pretty effective even if they were total hyperbole.
Kitz was good. The legislature during his last term was impossible. Thus, his record looks worse than it should if you don't have good historical memory and are willing to be swayed by soundbites and attack ads.
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Well Dudley certainly has done a tremendous amount of things for Oregon with all his public service the last 8 years! If you think he will do anything for anybody except the ultra-wealthy, you are sadly mistaken. Just look at where he was on election night - hanging out with his wealthy donors while his supporters were milling around in silence in the other room. I just would not want him leading a trade delegation to another county on the behalf of Oregon or anything else. Fine basketball player - not a leader of state government. Cutting taxes for the elite wealthy is not going to help the majority of Oregonians.
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I'm mostly frustrated with the name calling on both sides - that's grade school stuff, just stop. Debate intelligently or keep your mouth shut.
I will support the new order, but expect them to come to the table with better ideas, not just a mind to repeal recent changes to health care, financial regulation, etc. - offer something better rather than simply going back to the way things were.
Get your work done, and you will be rewarded with my vote next time 'round. Sit on your hands or spend your time pointing fingers, and you won't get my vote.
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It's not in their interest to debate intelligently, because the majority of the public gets bored with facts. They want emotion, namecalling, and belief. Facts, boring.
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Amen. I thought there would be really, intelligent discussions when I came to Portland from my appauling red state. However, I'm learning that people are just as blindly following the Democrats here as my red-state patrons follwed their Republican ones there.
Just look at the he-said-she-said comments and VERY tired old party line complaints about rich/poor, evil corporations/tax-and-spend, conservative/liberal, socialism/selling your mother for a profit. Please - it's time for something different - something new.
BOTH parties suck IMHO. Neither of them is any more fiscially responsible than the other. And we keep taking their abuse. As to the comment about Rome falling - I think you'll find that when people get appeased all the time with promises they get complacent and don't demand more from their government to work for the people.
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I'm so relieved DeFazio won!
I'm not surprised about the medical marijuana measure failing. I was in favor, and I think dispensaries would have had a better chance, but the part of the measure that provided for assistance to low income card holders made some liberal-minded voters think twice. Hand-outs for pot heads?!
Fingers crossed for Kitz!
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Is there any way to tell from WHERE in Multnomah County their remaining votes will come from, and could this provide insight as to how those remaining votes might trend?
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TURN DOWN BILL LUNCH'S MICROPHONE! I had to turn off the radio due to his constant smacking, gulping, and other gross mouthsounds. Ugh!
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It is something about microphone placement, I think.
I have asked the OPB engineers about it but got no response. And I asked the Audio Engineers Society too, but got no response.
I thought about asking each of the microphone manufacturers, like Shure, Sennheiser, etc but haven't gotten around to it. They are all listed at the AES website, if you're interested.
Anyway, that sort of vocal sound quality has really deteriorated over the years.
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Ugh - yes. If there is something I've noticed from OPB again and again - it's the mic thing. I swear I hear every single pop of saliva and puff of breath coming out of your mouths.
Other stations have talk formats and I can IMMEDIATELY tell I'm on OPB by the mouth sounds. Go ask them how they get around the problem.
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Our totally grassroots campaign for Greg Malinowski for Washington County Commissioner was successful and we're feeling good about that "hopey changey thing" in District 2.
Our organic farmer won against a guy who sells strip mines for a living -- although we will continue with the balance of power in "oregon's economic engine" staying with the "business as usual" folks.
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and boy is your website screwed up -- it took me about ten minutes to get this comment entered.
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Sorry about that Virginia — thank you for hanging in there!
Allison Frost, TOL Senior Producer
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How can one ever be happy with an election? Even if things turn out the way you wanted them to, it is rarely, if ever, because people voted with intelligence. The scariest thing about elections is how fickle and arbitrary people are, how the public is ruled by anger and popular trend, or at least the public who ends up deciding the elections. How in two years since the previous election, people couldn’t manage to recall what actually happened to shape the way things are now, that they have such short-term memory and no vision for the future. Elections always remind me that the good of democracy is no sure thing, that democracy relies on the quality of the people, and the quality is rarely there, and if it appears to be there, it is generally chance or circumstance and not educated thinking that produces the good results.
This election also suggests that President Obama wasn’t elected because Americans got smart all of sudden, it was merely a popular whim and Mr. Obama was in the right place at the right time. I hate to be so negative, but I just don’t see another reality fitting the evidence.
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You're right on Scott! Ignorance seems to be the number one trait of American voters. I hear left and right how people were not sure what most of the items in their ballots meant. Well, guess what? You don't know what it means? Then DON'T VOTE! Stop voting for my future with your ignorance.
I was disgusted with the Dudley vs. Kitzhaber campaign. Not a single shred of transparency from either side. Shame on OPB for not pushing the candidates to have more on air debates. As a matter of fact, we should make it MANDATORY to have candidates face each other a minimum number of 4 times so that everybody has a chance to throw a pie in their face. This should be a law.
Both parties do nothing but profit from the mood swings of the public.
We also need more candidates in every single election. What is up with just having two run for governor? Are we that lame and lacking in educated and intelligent people that we have to choose between a failed former governor of 8 years or a basketball player with not much experience? Just wow!
And look where we are. Same people, same issues and same debate. Now Republicans are all gloating because they think people really endorsed them. I hope you are not believing that for a second! That was another mood swing of the "free" american voter. That's a commentary that shouldn't be done with votes but with constant daily scrutinization of the political agendas of both parties. Scott is right. We have left our future to chance.
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I understand that there are a lot of people upset and frustrated with our government such as it is. I think it's clear that many people were voting for something new, rather than specifically for one candidate or another.
I find the noise to be rather frightening, when candidates are saying that they have a "mandate" or that they will not compromise. If candidates refuse to compromise, nothing gets done- it means more of the same, rather than something new.
One of my apprehensions about Mr. Dudley is that he will spend his first year or two trying to figure out how to get anything done- figuring out how government in Oregon works- rather than dealing with the business of getting the State government on the right track.
Government is like a train, and policy generally has little immediate effect. It takes years for any real effects of policy to be seen, much less corrected. What we are seeing now is the result of policy decisions from several years ago, not policy that has been enacted in the last few months. If Mr. Kulongoski and the current Legislature have done their jobs right, we will see the effects of their policy decisions at the end of Mr. Dudley or Mr. Kitzhaber's newly elected term, and I suspect that they will be blamed/praised for those results, rather than the ones who made the decisions.
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It might be worth exploring today or on another program in future the significance that Union County (in an advisory measure 31-75) voted down a 300 megawatt wind plant. This was advertised by some as being the 1st such measure in the country, and was voted down narrowly (~51% "No" to 49% "Yes").
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The 08 election was not a vote for the Demokants, it was a decisive uprooting of the shrub and its support system. It is too bad that the Demikants did not learn from the chopping of the Rebliwont’s out of office on 08! Change yes; it must be change that clearly supports the middle if we ever hope to stem the vast over-corrections we are currently experiencing.
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The voters turned the US House back over to the Corporations and Wall Street that caused our economic problems.
I never have understood how so many people can be convinced to vote against themselves and their own interests.
As far as I can see the only people who could possibly benefit from Conservative Republicanism, is the top 1 or 2 % of the wealthy and it just astounds me that so many people can be fooled into always voting to give them more and more money and power.
It is just too weird.
The Liberal Democrats never were perfect but at least they believe in in leaving some of the money and power in the hands of The People.
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"The Liberal Democrats never were perfect but at least they believe in in leaving some of the money and power in the hands of The People."
Thanks Tom another good laugh!
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On Think Out loud this morning I listened to a state employee disagreeing with some running for office suggesting cutting state programs/employees. I thought it interesting. I am a retired county employee working in the health field. Our rural county has a very high unemployment rate so the county salary structure was reduced as well as the benefits cut. I worked along side state employees doing the same work and long hours but for the last 10 years my salary was frozen and my benefits were gradually cut. The state employees got pay raises and their benefits remained the same. It was very frustrating and led to a situation that our county agency could not hire new employees to replace those like myself that were leaving or retiring. There is a wide disparity between county employees and state employees working side by side in rural counties in Oregon. That is why I tend to vote more for those that at least promise to work with rural Oregon to improve health care, employment, etc.
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Listening to Obama speak and I'm grateful to hear him not just take the blame! Afterall, it was the Republicans who weren't working with the Dems and then a lot of the stuff that was said was coming from people who don't tell the truth! I also want to say taht when I hear it's because of older people voting that the measure 74 for instance didn't pass. What? I know of several people on Medical Marijuana and they're around 60 to 70 yr old and I'm over 60 myself and I voted for it. I think a lot of us over 60 are more liberal then a lot of people and it's unfair to generalize an age-group. I've also seen some young people who believe the lies from the TeaBaggers and talk show people. I hope our country gets smarter! AND Obama is doing the best he can with what he's got and it's gona take him time!
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Comments are now closed.
I will be optimistic and look forward to a better future. I've heard many people tell me recently, "The system is the way it is and there is nothing that can be done about it." I do not hold to that apathetic and defeatist assessment. We created our systems and we can fix them if we have vision and purpose.
I have this thought tonight. In order for all of us to live more fulfilling lives we should focus on cooperation and compassion instead of competition and profit.
See Gandhi's Seven Blunders of the World:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Blunders_of_the_World