SAM ADAMS CENTRAL: Set Your Bookmark Here for the Latest on Portland's Embattled Mayor.

Yesterday, I wrote how former Vice President Al Gore will do a fund-raiser in Oregon for Bill Bradbury, who's running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary next year along with ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber and former Hewlett-Packard exec Steve Shields. The Bradbury-Gore connection makes sense because Bradbury has been one of the folks who's traveled around to highlight Gore's warnings about global warming. But I had planned a follow-up Murmur for next week's paper on the back story of how Gore fought Kitzhaber's Oregon Health Plan when Gore was in the Senate. Former U.S. Rep. Les AuCoin...

Bill Bradbury, who's running in the 2010 Democratic primary for governor, has gotten a party heavyweight in his corner for a fund-raiser. Bradbury's campaign announced this afternoon that former Vice President Al Gore will appear in Portland on Nov. 19 with Bradbury at what the campaign is billing as "A conversation with Climate Change Pioneers." Gore also will have been in town the night before to discuss his new book at the Keller Auditorium on Nov. 18. The Nov. 19 fund-raiser for Bradbury will be at the Left Bank Project (240 N Broadway) with a charge of $25 for adults, $15 for...

While we wait for tonight's election results from Referendum 71 and the Vancouver mayor's race in Washington, we surfed around to see what's new in the Oregon governor's race for next year. Ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber, running in the 2010 Democratic primary for his old job, picked up a $1,000 donation last week from Earth Day organizer founder and noted environmentalist Denis Hayes. Kitzhaber also got another $1,000 from Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard (as first reported by Eugene's Register-Guard.) Other big-bucks donations in the last month to Kitzhaber included $10,000 apiece...

Since a report in last week's Oregonian looking at contributions into tomorrow's mayoral race in Vancouver, there have been a couple other notably large donations in the last week from Oregon — all to incumbent Royce Pollard in his effort to hold off challenger Tim Leavitt. Pollard collected $5,000 on Oct. 26 from Gramor Corp. CEO Barry Cain in Tualatin; and picked up $1,250 apiece on Oct. 29 from real estate investor George Diamond and his wife Paula Diamond.

Former state Sen. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) today accepted a high-level federal appointment. Walker will be the state director for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The $133,000-a-year job comes on the heels of her resignation from the Legislature in July. Initially, Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed her to chair the state parole board. But shortly before a scheduled Senate confirmation hearing in September, Walker withdrew her name. That left her in a lower-salaried, temporary position at the Department of Corrections. Walker says the decision to leave the...