After every election it's a tradition here at WW to sift through the campaign promises, contribution reports, election night coverage and final results. The objective: To go beyond the vote tallies and declare the not-so-obvious winners and losers. In an election that set a record for lousy turnout, it seems appropriate to start with the losers. Losers
ORGANIZED LABOR
Can you say "debacle?" Labor spent big money on Measure 53--the "dead men shouldn't vote" initiative. They lost. They bankrolled Mike Fahey's bid for labor "commish"--as the cutesy ads said--and Fahey got pounded by Republican Jack Roberts. Even in the People's Republic of Multnomah County. It doesn't bode well for November, when Bill Sizemore's initiative will try to sever labor political activists from their lifeblood--union dues. OREGON REPUBLICANS
In low turnout elections it's supposedly the highly motivated, well-informed voters who cast ballots. But consider this: U.S. Senate candidate John Fitzpatrick had no backers and no signs of a real campaign. He wasn't in the Voters' Pamphlet--and his only claim to fame is trying to show people having sex with corpses on TV. He was running against John Lim, a respected two-term state senator. Yet Fitzpatrick got 28 percent in the Republican primary. So what are we left to conclude? Republicans are either uninformed or necrophiliacs. PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS
Seven well-trained pedagogues sought the superintendent of public instruction post. So who finished first and second in the election? Two professional pols: Stan Bunn and Margaret Carter. The seven educators combined grabbed just 27 percent of the vote. COMEBACKS
Two years ago Jim Bunn was a congressman from Oregon. Then he got ousted by Democrat Darlene Hooley. Last week he couldn't even win a state representative primary, losing by a wide margin to right-winger Juley Gianella. Former Metro executive officer Rena Cusma came out of political retirement to run for the County Commission, where she looked a shoo-in. She finished fourth. ELAINE FRANKLIN
The GOP consultant with a British accent and brutish tactics had a good candidate in Chuck Carpenter. She also had a record $239,000 to work with in state House District 7. She lost, though, by doing the impossible: Franklin made the abrasive Bill Witt seem sympathetic with a cheap-shot attack. She also worked for Jon Kvistad's losing campaign. EAST PORTLAND
Three-fourths of the city's voters live east of the Willamette. City Council candidate Tanya Collier is as familiar to eastsiders as Mount Tabor. Yet Collier snagged a paltry 33 percent of the vote in her race against westsider Dan Saltzman. So much for the eastside juggernaut. BILL SIZEMORE
Sizemore the anti-tax activist won on Measure 53. But Sizemore the would-be governor discovered his critics go far beyond The Oregonian. Consider: 47 percent of Republicans voted for fringe candidates in the GOP gubernatorial primary, and fellow Republican Jack Roberts garnered three times as many votes as Sizemore in his successful re-election bid for state labor czar. MARK HEMSTREET AND DON MCINTIRE
The conservative hotelier and the anti-tax activist tried to take out House Speaker Lynn Lundquist (with the help of the powerful agriculture lobby). As McIntire noted, "If you shoot at the king, you better kill him." Lundquist is alive and well after collecting 62 percent of the vote. We've got a hunch Hemstreet's pet bills will start in the state Senate next year. JOHN KITZHABER
True, the guv was on his sick bed and still won 90 percent of the vote. But let's not forget it was Kitzhaber who vetoed vote-by-mail in 1995 when the GOP still supported the idea. That makes Kitzhaber partly responsible for the voter confusion and low turnout last week. LUCKY LAB
This Southeast Hawthorne brew pub hosted Erik Sten's kinetic election parties in 1996. Last week Sten and protege Serena Cruz moved the best shindig in politics to Aztec Willie's on Northeast Broadway. GORDON SMITH
The golden boy of Oregon Republicans got involved in four GOP primaries and only broke even. He won with legislative candidates Lynn Lundquist and Max Williams, but lost on moderate incumbents Jeannette Hamby and Chuck Carpenter. Like his predecessor Mark Hatfield, Smith saw the party move away from the moderate views he's trying to promote. Winners NO-GROWTHERS
Anti-growth candidate Bill Atherton was the top vote-getter in the race to succeed Metro Councilor Don Morissette. Liz Callison, another candidate who embraced no-growth politics, finished a surprising second in the race for Patricia McCaig's Metro seat, and will face David Bragdon in a run-off. NONE OF THE ABOVE
The problem wasn't just low-turnout. A lot of voters couldn't find any candidates they liked. In Clackamas County, a majority of voters left their ballots blank rather than vote for Metro Exec Mike Burton, who was unopposed. In the Clackamas County portion of Metro districts 2 and 7, "none of the above" was more popular than any candidate. In the Multnomah County parts of districts 2 and 7, "NOTA" was the second choice, trailing only first-place finishers Atherton and Bragdon. BOB SHIPRACK
Building trades union leader Shiprack broke with the AFL-CIO and backed Jack Roberts for labor commissioner. After Roberts hammered Mike Fahey, Shiprack's stock went up. TRIAL LAWYERS
Their arch-enemy Bob Tiernan sported slick TV spots and enjoyed some name recognition, but he captured just 28 percent in his bid for the Supreme Court. Trial lawyers' candidate Bill Riggs, who ran cheesy ads and had no name recognition, finished first. DAN LAVEY
Gordon Smith's former aide ran Molly Bordonaro's campaign to a runaway victory. More important, Lavey is already pulling Bordonaro to the middle. According to Bordonaro's internal polls, she fared as well among moderate and liberal Republicans as she did with conservatives. ASIAN AMERICANS
They represent roughly 5 percent of the Oregon population, but they fared well on election day. David Wu won a U.S. House primary, John Lim won a GOP Senate primary, and Rod Park won a non-partisan Metro race. GREG WALDEN, BRADY ADAMS, JACK ROBERTS
When a good-looking 45-year-old wins his party's nomination for governor, it's usually bad news for young pols looking ahead to the next election cycle. But Sizemore's weak showing last week opens the door for the GOP's triple-A team to run for governor in 2002. MARK PUTNAM
Say what you will about Wu's attack mail, his TV spots, crafted by Virginia media whiz Putnam, were positive and cut through the campaign clutter. They were engaging, inviting and energetic--particularly the one that showed Wu driving around town, pointing out the keys to his education plan. TEAM CRUZ
Erik Sten, Sam Adams, Mark Wiener, Anna Larocco and Portland's Latino community raised the big money and crafted the winning strategy that took 30-year-old Serena Cruz from anonymity to front-runner in the North Portland County Commission race. THE OREGONIAN
Yeah, it hurts to say so, but the O's reporting on Sizemore dominated the gubernatorial campaign. ANN PHAN
The 22-year-old former Portland State University activist and Vanguard writer ran Frank Shields' impressive state Senate campaign to victory over Lonnie Roberts. |
