News Ever since Mayoral Madness began—indeed, as it has grown into a city-shattering phenomenon—we've been preparing for charges that we rigged the election. That calumny finally surfaced Thursday, when Victoria Taft claimed we were letting Mike Rice's supporters vote multiple times but blocking her people from voting in giant clumps.The charge is patently ludicrous: Yes, of course we are using our ...   More

News The Sweet 16 rolls on, and we'd like to take a moment to tell you, the voters of Portland (as well as the voters of other cities with an unusual level of devotion to Leverage), what a great job you're doing. We've watched you make tough decisions, and we've come to trust you. For example: Thanks to your courage in choosing Jack Bogdanski over Packy the Elephant, we won't have a mayor who sits around ...   More

News The Bud Clark regional—named after the most gregarious mayor the city ever produced—has been oddly deserted over the first two rounds, perhaps because the frontrunner is a dessert.Maybe if we had put googly eyes on it, you'd have been more passionate about the bacon maple bar—or as we call her at the office, Miss Piggy Tree-sap. And if only Tres Shannon had not recused himself in order to devote ...   More

News We've reached the Sweet 16. This is a round reserved for winners and for closers. It's the popular kids' table. This is the Vera Katz wing of the popular kids' table.We'd like to pour one out in memory of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who is just a mixed-up kid. 16. Victoria Taft, Talk-radio resentment queen12. Mike Rice, Blazers TV color commentatorVictoria Taft has defeated Carrie Brownstein and Timber ...   More

News Jack Bogdanski had better hope an elephant does forget. The Lewis & Clark law professor and prolific blogger won his second-round Mayoral Madness contest against sentimental favorite Packy,    More

News Jack Bogdanski had better hope an elephant does forget.The Lewis & Clark law professor and prolific blogger won his second-round Mayoral Madness contest against sentimental favorite Packy, the Oregon Zoo elephant, after resorting to an exuberantly negative campaign. The Oregon Zoo fought back with a Twitter account, Packy SuperPAC. But Bogdanski stomped his six-ton foe with 56 percent of the ...   More

News Scroll down to vote. We have a few things to say first.When we started Mayoral Madness last week, we had high hopes. But the race between Jack Bogdanski and Packy the Elephant has exceeded our wildest dreams. Sure, it was pretty great when Bogdanski went negative early on his blog. ("'Packy' was also the nickname for Bob Packwood," he wrote Wednesday, "who used to serve women box wine and tongue-kiss ...   More

News The Hunger Games opens today, and have you noticed that Mayoral Madness is exactly like it? Competitors are selected without warning, pitted in fights to the death, and only one can survive at the end? There was even a kid, but he lost. Victoria Taft is our Katniss Everdeen, basically. And the more we think about it, the more we believe Victoria would have been a great Katniss! Hollywood's liberal ...   More

News Dear lord, can anyone stop Victoria Taft? She's beating Timber Joey like a rented goalie. We're going to have to bring in a ringer soon. We're thinking Tim Tebow. We hear he's available.Meanwhile, this is the second round of the Bud Clark Regional. It attracted the least voters of all brackets last week. We think this is because Tres Shannon was disqualified, but it also might be because it's insufficiently ...   More

News The clear lessons so far from Mayoral Madness: The only thing Portland loves more than an underdog is a self-promoter.  The first round of WW’s bracket tournament to find a less-boring mayo   More