Today, from 5-7pm, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is having a fundraising dinner in the Sheraton Hotel near the airport. Only ticket holders (No Press!) will be allowed inside.

Frank Dixon is a retired Major in the Army Reserves and now the Vice Chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon. He also happens to be an uncommitted superdelegate.

Major Frank Dixon standing in the Sheraton parking lot.

Major Dixon stood alongside a handful of Democrats and protested McCain’s “100 years in Iraq” comment.

“We need to get out of Iraq. There’s been over 4,000 deaths, exponentially more wounded, 100 Oregonians have died in the war so far, and we have no exit strategy. We have no good reason to stay.”

Many argue that Democrats are taking McCain’s “100 year war” comment out of context. They say that it was a figure of speech, that McCain was just trying to say that he’d do what it takes to set up a functional Iraqi government, that some kind of America presence would be there as long as it took to create a stable Iraq, whether that meant a year or a 100. Did the Major really think McCain would be ok with a 100 year war?

“Hey he’s the one that said it. I think everyone knows this would be a 3rd Bush term if he is elected.”

As a superdelegate, what’s it been like to be such a sought after commodity?

“It’s been cool. Meeting with the candidates has been very impressive. I am in awe of them.”

When’s the last time you spoke to Hillary or Obama?

“Last Friday, I rode on Obama’s bus to Beaverton. He was sitting with his legs up. He was there with his brother in law, the new head basketball coach of Oregon State. We spoke for about 20 minutes.”

“Barack is charismatic, inspritational, and can relate to you on a human level, without pretense. There was lots of enthusiasm on the bus.”

“He asked about Oregon issues and we talked about LNG and timber issues, not to mention all the big national ones like the war and the economy.”

He added, “It’d be a big plus for Oregon to have the President’s brother in law as coach of Oregon State.”

“I sat down with Hilary last Friday also. It was about 9:30 in the morning and after traveling across the country in an airplane, she was just perfect. Was great with the meet and greet, the Oregon issues, visually, all perfect.”

“Senator Clinton is a fighter and a hard campaigner, she commands respect for those reasons.”

It wasn’t the first time they sat down with each other - Dixon met with Hillary a few weeks ago in a high school gym weight room. He said it was surreal.

So who’s he going with?

“I can’t speak in absolutes, both candidates have done a remarkable job in this state. You never know what will happen. I’ll probably go with whomever the Oregon voters vote for.”

Secretary of State candidate Vicki Walker has a new radio ad—one that evokes the backroom deals Walker’s pledging to break up.

Check it out.

Here’s a sneak peak at Charles Lewis’ new campaign ad, set to start airing “tonight during the Daily Show and the Colbert Report,” Lewis says.

It’s a spoof on an old 70s commercial—but can you name which one? The answer’s after the cut.

“We are going to bring this election to a close right here in Oregon,” Barack Obama told a huge crowd on the quadrangle at the University of Oregon last night. It was an echo of something that one of his senior advisers told The Politico just a few days ago, and a signal that the party in Oregon on primary night, May 20, is going to be about a lot more than just another state in this long nomination process.

The most interesting part of Obama’s speech, I thought, came toward the end. After a lot of lines that I’d heard before, Obama segued into a new re-introduction of himself (or a newish re-introduction; he first rolled out this new section of his stump speech after his win in North Carolina on Tuesday).

Obama was candid about why he’s added these new lines:

I do want to just end by telling you about myself because it appears that the Republicans are intent on making this campaign about me—whether I wear a flag pin, my bowling score, my eating habits, the offensive remarks of a former pastor—that’s what they want to make this campaign about.

And so I want to just close by reminding you of why I do this, and a little bit about myself. I was born to a teenage mother. And my father left when I was two, so I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. And they came from small towns in Kansas. They grew up during the Great Depression. And they didn’t have much of anything. And when World War II started my grandfather joined the army, and went to Europe and fought in Patton’s army, and my grandmother stayed back working on a bomber assembly line while she also looked after the new baby they had had…

You can see where this is going. This is an American story, a white story (in that it only explores the white side of Obama’s family tree), the most America-centric re-telling of Obama’s family history that he’s done to this date.

…And when my grandfather came back, his government, the United States government, said, ‘You know, it makes sense for us to invest in young men like this who fought for us. And make sure that not only are we allowing them to succeed but also that we’re creating a middle class that will lift up the whole country. And so he was able to get a college education on a GI Bill.

And then that same government said, ‘You know what, it’d be smart if we could set up a loan program so that young families like theirs, they can buy a home, because that will be good for everybody, it’ll lift up the whole country.’ And so they bought their home with the help of a VHA loan. And then, when my mother got older, she was able to get a college scholarship even though they weren’t wealthy. And even though I was being raised by a single mom, and even though we sometimes had to be on food stamps to make ends meet, she was ultimately able to send my sister and me to the best schools in the world.

Message: Obama is also the grateful product of well-meaning investments made by his country decades ago. He then told of his wife’s similar story, and then he said:

Here’s the thing. When people ask me about my patriotism, when they ask me why I’m doing this, I try to explain to them, I’m doing it because that story’s not just my story, it’s your story. It’s the American story. It’s that idea that each generation successively is able to work a little bit harder, work a little bit better, to make life better for the next generation and the government is a partner in this process.

The crowd was exploding with cheers by this point.

That’s why I love this country. That’s why you love this country. Because if you really try you can make it in this country, and that’s the American dream that we are gonna preserve for the next generation. But I need your help doing it. And so, let me just end by saying this, Oregon: You can make that choice. But I’m gonna need you to vote for me, and if you do we will win this nomination, we will win this general election, and you and I together will change this country, and we will change the world. Thank you, everybody, God Bless you and God Bless America.

Will this new telling of Obama’s story reach people like the Obama skeptics I met in rural Jackson County on Thursday? Or the guy I met on the plane down to Oregon? We’ll see.

For now, I’m heading back up to Seattle to start (er, keep on) writing. For my full take on the Democratic end game in Oregon see next week’s Merc. And for all the posts in this series click here.

(UPDATE @ 8:35 pm on Sunday: Hansen has not only pulled that post—which, as the Oregonian reported, she replaced with a post about striving to be more “Tom-like”—but has pulled every post. Apparently being more “Tom-like” means not blogging, which is apropos. But good thing for Google. Here’s a cache of the post.)

Did you know Mayor Tom Potter’s wife, Karin Hansen, has a blog? (Either that, or she’s got a sock puppet more talented than any I’ve ever seen.) From her profile: “It can be tough for an opinionated person like myself to be the wife of an elected official. I get so frustrated sometimes. I have my own ideas, but they are often minimized. People, knowingly or not, take away my power when they make comments, such as: ‘Of course, she would say that. She’s Potter’s wife.’ or ‘If she’s endorsing Dozono, Potter must be.’” (Which means she’s going to hate the title of this blog post.)

This afternoon, Hansen posted about the goings on at city hall. This is even better than the time she listed Potter’s “accomplishments” on BlueOregon a few weeks ago.

Background: As you could probably tell from my post on Wednesday, Commissioners Sam Adams and Randy Leonard aren’t too happy with Potter’s proposed budget (which basically denied funding to any of Adams’ projects, and a key one of Leonard’s). The two have been working on an alternative budget, and Dan Saltzman is the third vote—Saltzman can vote for Potter’s budget, but then it’s 2-2 and the city doesn’t have a budget… or he can get more of his stuff funded via the Adams-Leonard alternative proposal, and the city gets to carry on… we’ll see which way he goes!

The budget is supposed to be up for a vote on Wednesday. I had some calls in this afternoon to see where things were at. The “alternative” budget, last I heard, is going to include more arts funding, more transportation funding, a shift in money to actually fund Leonard’s recently passed legislation to move the PDC’s attorneys under the city attorney’s authority (not including that in his own budget was Potter’s first mistake—NEVER cross Randy), plus “some things for Dan,” according to a city hall staffer I spoke with earlier this week.

It’s a pragmatic and politically smart way for Adams and Leonard to see that their priorities get funding. Hansen sees it quite differently. Calling it a “Character Assassination in Progress,” she says “The evil doers are hard at work at City Hall. They are trying to erase all the good work of Tom Potter’s administration.”

I want to quote the entire dang thing—it’s that juicy and over the top. Oh, what the hell, let’s do it.

They are working on ending funding for on-going projects, such as the Office of Youth and Gang Violence Prevention, the newly created Human Rights Commission; while chipping away at Tom’s supporters. They have yanked Dan Saltzman to the darkside for their third vote to override “the Mayor’s Budget” With an “Alternative Budget.” They have swayed PDC chair, Mark Rosenbaum to their side for the deconstruction of PDC. They have pulled in Charles McGee of BPI with money promises. They tried to get to a large group of Black Portlanders to turn against the mayor via Willie Brown, but he didn’t take the bait. And, someone is secretly supplying the homeless protesting at City Hall with sustenance…I believe that is them also.

This is a pretty nasty list. It almost sounds paranoid, but, really, it is just finally putting the pieces together…and, those are just the pieces that I have found. Where are others still lurking?

….all this just to get even with a person they don’t like. Is that your Portland? It’s not mine.

I am sick of these disgusting power plays that put winning and egos over what is best for Portland.

If we elect Sam Adams as our next mayor, this will be business as usual for Portland’s future, folks.

Vote for Sho Dozono for mayor, because he would actually put Portland first.
In protest, write in Tom Potter for Randy Leonard’s spot.

Emphasis hers.

How can this possibly get better? Randy Leonard found it (and sent it to me and a couple other reporters tonight), and has responded in the comments to her post. That’s after the cut.

On the radio tonight—OPB, in between damn pledge drive bits—I heard two political pundits declare the Democratic nomination over. According to those two (whose names, unfortunately, I did not catch), all that’s left is for Clinton to realize it and bow out gracefully (i.e., Obama can’t be a jerk and suggest she not let the door smack her on the way out).

But… we still get to pick between the two in Oregon! Maybe you’ve already voted, maybe you’re still deciding, maybe you just haven’t filled in the ballot yet. Regardless, tell us what you did or plan to do.

WHO ARE YOU VOTING FOR?

Poll closes Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm.

Answer, as if you couldn’t guess:

More tomorrow, related posts here.

In the race for city commissioner position #2, Nick Fish got the Portland Business Alliance’s endorsement. (Jim Middaugh has told us the PBA’s board asked him, in his interview, why he’s been “picking on them” by being critical over things like rent-a-cops.)

This just in, via the PBA: They’re stumping for Fish, and asking people to open the checkbooks. I’ve been analyzing Fish’s donors, and I’ll put that info up shortly. In the meantime, here’s the PBA’s letter:

From: Bernie Bottomly [mailto:bbottomly@portlandalliance.com] Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 8:18 PM Subject: Nick Fish Request

Dear Alliance Member:

Nick Fish, the Alliance endorsed candidate for city council, running for the seat vacated by Commissioner Erik Sten, is seeking to raise $25,000 in the next three weeks to fully implement his campaign plan. He is currently on television and has a mailer ready to drop, but is looking for funds to implement a call down to seniors, do another mailing, and purchase newspaper ads. Nick’s intention is to win this election in May.

Nick, in addition to being endorsed by the Alliance, has received a contribution from the Alliance PAC. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

You can contribute on line at http://www.nickfish2008.com/donate
That link will also allow you to print a donation form if you’d rather contribute by mail.

Thanks,

Chris Mongrain
Chair, Government Relations Committee
Bernie Bottomly | Vice President, Government Relations & Economic Development

This afternoon at the City Club Friday Forum, the candidates for city council position #1 participated in an incredibly subdued forum. The six introduced themselves, fielded questions on things like “how much do you care about East Portland,” and “what do you think of the Mayor’s proposed budget,” then got a chance to ask each other questions. And that, my friends, is when things got interesting.

Charles Lewis prefaced his query by saying “I regret that we’re within striking distance, because I’m got quite a question.”

Holding a copy of Fritz’ latest mailer—which takes aim at city outsourcing, and city money being spent outside of Portland, like a $4 million contract for computer maintenance—Lewis asks Fritz:

“It turns out the brochure was actually printed in Eugene. $56,000 of printing in Eugene, In addition there was another $54,000 that was spent outside of Portland as well, for a total of about $110,000 that was spent outside the city of Portland,” Lewis said, asking Fritz what she had to say about it.

“I am not surprised that you asked it, Charles,” she said. “The first choice was to be buying in Portland with Portland businesses, union businesses, and I could certainly go into details of why the other choices were made. And that strategy was indeed implemented. The top consultants in Portland, we met with them, and they were not available. And so, I’m in this campaign to win, and we went with their recommendations of who to work with.” (She may have been referring to TGF Productions, whom she paid $39,500 for advertising; The check’s record in ORESTAR lists a Portland address, but when I pull up that address in Google maps, it comes up in Lake Oswego.)

She listed businesses like Hollywood Impress, a local company she has worked with. And she turned the attention back to “those big picture things” the city pays for with its $3 billion budget.

Lewis was allowed to rebut, and rebut he did, pointing out that Fritz had only spent “a few hundred” with Hollywood Impress, while spending $110,000 of her $150,000 in public funds outside of Portland. “This is publicly financed money,” he said. “I really believe the money should have stayed here, especially if that’s going to be a major platform of someone’s campaign.”

But forget what I’m writing about it. Listen to the short exchange yourself.

Undergrad pastoral at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where Barack Obama will be holding a rally later on this evening.

Here’s Joseph Links, 21, a sophomore studying journalism, relaxing in the grass on the university qaudrangle:

I told him about my experiences talking to Hillary Clinton supporters in Jackson County yesterday—the concern about the flag pin, the pastor, the secret Muslim thing—and asked Links if he thought rural white voters would be a problem for Obama.

“I think it might be hard for him to get the rural vote just because of education in certain areas,” Links said. “But that’s just part of campaigning.”

Does Obama, as Clinton has suggested, have a problem with white voters?

“No, because my dad’s white and he’s middle class and he’s voting for Obama.”

Next to Links was Erika Unruh, 20, a sophomore studying education. She told me her Republican grandmother in Happy Valley, Oregon, is voting for Obama. “She thinks he has a fresh look,” Unruh said.

Does Obama have a problem with white voters?

“I really don’t think it’s going to be that much of an issue… I would like to think we’ve moved beyond that.”

Next, Kelsey Schopp, 20, a sophomore in International Studies. I asked her about Clinton’s recent contention that she’s more viable, in part, because she does better than Obama among “hard working Americans, white Americans.”

“I’ve heard that,” Schopp said. “But she definitely doesn’t have the young vote. Everyone I talk to our age is into Obama.”

Continuing our presidential party today, check out this interview with Ralph Nader—yep, he’s running too!—by Andrew R Tonry. Nader will be in town on Tuesday evening, at Benson High School. Full details at the end of Tonry’s story.

“I’m not a quitter,” Nader said. “Our agenda is the majoritarian agenda, the others are not the majoritarian agenda. In head-on polling, repeatedly, our positions are supported by the majority of the American people; theirs are not. A lot of [Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain’s] are not at all.”

Barack Obama signed autographs for the employees at this bizarre “technology and software” company that employs biologists and chemists, while a crowd waited outside for his motorcade to leave Beaverton. Meanwhile, you can listen to what he spent the morning talking about. National blogs are already buzzing about his opening comments, where he begins to campaign head to head with John McCain.

Listen to the full audio here.

Our Seattle colleague Eli Sanders is slated to talk about the Oregon campaign trail on KUOW, Seattle’s public radio station, at 1 pm. You can listen online here.

And as soon as we can upload it, we’ll be posting audio from Obama’s visit to Beaverton today.

Then stay tuned to Blogtown throughout the weekend, as Obama heads to Eugene and Bend.

This is Matt Davis. Jon Shapiro just lent me his laptop after accidentally treating the crowd here to a full-volume Youtube video when he opened it up to blog. Ironically, the thing wouldn’t shut up, so as former kidney patient Jordan Kokich talked to the hushed audience about her struggles, Barack Obama’s voice was echoing from the Macbook at the back here. It was pretty embarrassing/funny/embarrassing. Mainly embarrassing, actually. Jon had to turn it off, eventually. So now I’m stuck with it for the sake of appearances while he’s off taking pictures. Anyway…

Hillary Clinton just emerged up here at OHSU, after forcing sick kids to wait two hours in the cold to see her. Staffers brought out blankets at one point, so a rather surreal, staged audience of about 36 doctors, family members, and kids on saline drips, most of whom are wrapped in blankets and looking like they need to pee, are watching as Clinton talks with Kokich, a teenager she met in the nineties who has since had a kidney transplant, and the mother of a sick child whose family don’t qualify for the Oregon Health Plan.

Clinton says this morning is about: “My passionate commitment to universal healthcare. I believe it is the unfinished business that we have to resolve.”

“How could you run for the Democratic nomination and not support universal healthcare?” she asks.

She’s introducing a single mother who works at Starbucks, with two children who have spina bifida and bipolar disorder, and whose insurance coverage will run out when the kids stop school. At the moment they have to spend $200 a month on medication.

“I think what we’re concerned mostly about is as they become older, where are they going to be? Are they really going to be able to live independently?” the woman asks.

Clinton says we need an “American coalition that will take on the insurance companies. I don’t believe we can get there without setting the goal of universal healthcare.”

“It’s one of the main reasons I’m running for president,” she continued. “It’s something we need to do for both moral and economic reasons.”

There are about a hundred press here, secret service, and as Clinton closes to take questions fro the press, they’re playing “I won’t back down,” for the FOURTH time this morning. Note to the world’s press: Sorry about Jon’s Youtube.

“People are working harder for less,” Sen. Barack Obama is telling an intimate crowd of Vernier Software and Technology employees and press. Instead of helping people live the American dream, “we’ve tipped the scales toward the special interests and Wall Street.”

“We need to reward work, and not just wealth,” Obama says. “That’s why I’ve proposed a ‘making work pay’ $500 tax credit for every worker.”

He’s outlining the differences between himself and John McCain—as if he’s the nominee, and Clinton has already dropped out (he hasn’t mentioned or alluded to her yet).

“I think it’s time to finally make health care affordable and accessible” to every American, he says. They also “have a difference on gas prices,” he adds, saying McCain is for a gas tax holiday “gimmick” that would save people perhaps $30 over the summer. “In the mean time it stands to potentially take money out of the [transportation] trust fund that pays for highways and bridges.”

“I believe that we owe the American people the truth,” he says, explaining that his plan to lower gas prices relies on breaking our addiction to foreign oil by investing in alternative energy, and increasing fuel efficiency standards.

“So there’s going to be a real difference on the ballot in November,” Obama says. “I intend to stand with the American people,” and head in a new direction.

More after the cut…

On my way to Beaverton this morning, I heard an ad for city council candidate Chris Smith, touting his experience.

Listen to it here.

Smith has a second one, too, on sustainability.

Barack Obama’s campaign staffers have crammed dozens of reporters into what’s essentially a mid-sized company’s break room. We’re all setting up equipment and training it on this stool:

Which hopefully, in 25 minutes, will hold one Sen. Obama. Unfortunately, I’m seating toward the back, behind employees of Vernier Software and Technology, and behind a wall of TV cameras…

Big Day for Oregonians!

*Barack is in Beaverton at some hi-tech firm. Stand by for updates here at Blogtown.

*Hillary is over at OHSU at the Children’s Hospital. Stand by for updates here at Blogtown.

*ALSO* McCain will be here on Monday at the Sheraton near the airport.

In other news,

1. On top of the popular vote and the delegate count, Barack just took the lead in superdelegates.

2. The NYT doesn’t mind if Hillary sticks around, as long as she plays nice from here on out.

3. Stephanopoulus says Hillary would take the VP spot.

4. WAR - Hezbollah takes control of West Beirut.

5. The Gong Show is back. With Dave Attell.

6. First look at Oliver Stone’s upcoming George W. Bush biopic.

7. Murakami’s 4 million dollar Jack-Off Cartoon.

As last night’s Hillary Clinton event was finishing up here in southern Oregon, a familiar face walked by the press area—a friend from college who now travels with the Senator. He looked great for having been in three states in one day, and after a few minutes of catching up he told me to grab my stuff and come with him.

We walked to the back of Olsrud Pavilion, normally the site of livestock sales and farm equipment expos but yesterday evening the site for one of Clinton’s rural Oregon stops as she campaigns toward the state’s May 20 primary.

With the speech over the campaign’s event soundtrack had been turned back on, songs like “American Girl” and “Don’t Stop Believing.” My friend nodded at a Secret Service agent and then the two of us were walking under the risers that had formed Clinton’s backdrop; into a “green room” draped in blue cloth and filled with local law enforcement officers in their dress uniforms, probably waiting for a picture; and past a table holding a New York Post from November 5, 2000 with a note next to it saying “please just sign.” The paper announced Clinton’s victory in her Senate race and Gore’s defeat in the presidential race.

Through a curtain, across a short stretch of concrete, and then, with my friend as my escort, I was suddenly inside the bubble of Secret Service protection that was surrounding Clinton as she worked the rope line. Because of the late hour Clinton had promised the crowd she would answer their questions one on one rather than doing a Q&A, and my friend wanted me to hear what people say to Clinton as she presses the flesh. This is something people don’t see enough, and don’t understand, he was telling me: the intensity of Clinton’s connection with her supporters, the absolute firmness of their conviction that she should go on.

It was true. Inside the bubble with Clinton, all I heard were older women with misty eyes thanking her, older men telling her to press on with the campaign no matter what, younger men and women saying they couldn’t wait to have her as their president. Clinton would sign things—copies of her book, scraps of paper, campaign signs, a copy of an emailed letter to the editor complaining about Clinton’s treatment in the press—and then she would lean in to answer questions and I would lean in behind her, just a foot or so away, trying to hear the exchange above the cheers and the music.

The first question I heard was from a young man asking about gay marriage (Clinton explained she supports civil unions). There was another question about violent video games, another about health care funding, and then it was mostly gift giving and people pleading with her to stay in the race. She received a sticker to put on her car that would identify her as part of the Holy Ghost Racing Team. She smiled. She was handed packages, letters, a necklace, a CD with a copy of a song an older woman had recorded for Bill. She laughed easily, shook hands warmly, signed everything in sight (except money, not allowed).

“Can I shake hands with you?” a woman asked gently. “God bless you.”

“Thank you for hanging in,” said a young man in a blue shirt. “I hope you win, I really do.”

It’s hard to describe the blast of supportive emotion that was directed at Clinton wherever she turned. We were making our way around a cordoned-off circle that surrounded the stage she’d used for her speech, and she was soaking it up, no longer the self-consciously straight shooting and un-flashy presence she cultivates on stage as a contrast to Obama’s soaring oratory.

Instead she was at ease, listening…

…laughing…

…and signing everything in sight, “Hillary.”

She didn’t seem in a hurry to leave. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave, either. It was all praise and support and good wishes in the bubble. It was lovely. It was another world.

Almost an hour late, Clinton kicked off her evening rally inside the arena of the Jackson County Fairgrounds here in southern Oregon by apologizing. She’d been in South Dakota and West Virginia earlier in the day, she said, and only then had headed west.

“I apologize that we were kind of flying against the wind,” she said. “But, you know, that’s the story of my life: fly against the wind, you’ll get there eventually.”

The crowd, filled with many hundreds of supporters (if maybe not the claimed one thousand), ate it up. They all seemed to want Clinton to stay in the race no matter what.

For the most part, though, her appearance was standard: A line about Clinton being more interested in solutions than speeches; details about her gas tax holiday proposal and her health care plan and her Iraq ideas; a (hopeless) challenge to Obama to debate her any time time and anywhere, perhaps even in Portland tomorrow morning when they’ll both be in the city.

The only new bit, to my ears, was Clinton’s closing, in which she explained her reasons for continuing on:

You know, people say to me all the time, ‘Boy, you’re a fighter.’ Well, yes, because you know there’s a lot in life that is worth fighting for and this country is worth fighting for.

People say to me all the time, ‘Well, are you going to keep going?’ Well, yes, of course I’m going to keep going.

[Huge applause.]

I’m gonna keep going because you keep going.

I look at that sign, ‘Single mothers for Hillary,’ I don’t know how single mothers do it. Every day, they keep going. When I meet somebody who’s lost their job, and they don’t know why, it’s just been pulled out from under them, they keep going. When I meet somebody who doesn’t have health insurance, and doesn’t know how they’re going to pay for their son’s operation, they keep going.

When people get up every day and face the odds that so many face in life, and they keep going—of course. That’s what you do if you believe that the future can be better than the present. I believe that with all my heart.

More Friday morning, including a lucky reunion with an old friend that ended in me being whisked inside Clinton’s Secret Service bubble to watch her sign autographs and field questions along the rope line.

Inside the arena at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in southern Oregon, a not exactly full house one hour before Hillary Clinton is scheduled to arrive…

…while outside the light fades on a warm day here in this overwhelmingly white (as in 93 percent white) corner of the state.

Earlier I spent some time talking to Hillary supporters as they arrived, waited in line, and headed inside the arena. Here’s Philip Frisby, 84, a retired cement delivery person from Grants Pass, Oregon.

“I think it’s just great that she’s staying in,” Frisby told me. He isn’t a big fan of Obama. He’s heard Obama won’t sing the national anthem, that he considers it a war song. “How good an American could he be if that’s his way of thinking?” Frisby asked. “His patriotism goes one way—that’s his way.”

How did Frisby hear about Obama’s dislike of the national anthem? You guess it: By email.

Now meet Margaret Roper, 74, a homemaker from Grants Pass.

“I don’t think she should drop out,” Roper told me. “I think she should stay in until the last.”

She’s also not a big Obama fan. “I don’t think he’s got the qualifications she does,” Roper said. “I think she’s a better person.”

One reason: “I think you should be proud to be an American. I think he should defend our country in every way, shape, and form, and I would not have listened to the things his preacher said.”

Can Hillary even win the nomination at this point?

“It’s possible,” Roper said. “She’s a fighter.”

Deanna Rogers, 43, arrived with McKyla Crowder, 14. Rogers could not explain how Hillary Clinton still has a viable path to the nomination. “She can give it a try,” said Rogers, who works as a real estate agent in Medford. “She can’t give up now. It’s not over until it’s over.”

“I hope she will win,” said Balaman Poorkhomani, 52, of Ashland. “Because I like her husband. We had a great country when he was president.”

And if she doesn’t win? Is the country ready to vote for a black man for president?

“Of course.”

Roger Caldwell has been to 11 states on the proceeds of his button and t-shirt sales, and he’s made a study of Hillary Clinton and her devoted followers, who he calls “Hillarians.”

He thinks Clinton is staying in the race for two reasons: To gain leverage for bargaining for the VP slot and (in a rather generous take that I haven’t heard before) to keep the spotlight on the Democrats rather than allowing it to shift to McCain.

He hadn’t heard of Clinton’s recent bragging about her prowess at drawing “hard-working, white Americans,” but, he said: “It’s true. That’s just a fact.”

Consider North Carolina, Caldwell said. There, Obama won by 14 points and blacks (over 90 percent of whom voted for Obama) made up 34 percent of the electorate. “If you took the blacks out of it, she would have won by 14,” Caldwell said.

So does Obama have a problem with white voters?

“I don’t think he has any problem that any black man wouldn’t have among white voters. That’s just the world we live in.”

Is Clinton exploiting this reality?

“You can’t fault her for exploiting it. Anyone running opposed to Barack is going to exploit it. And Hillary has barely done it.”

Is there a way for Clinton to make a graceful exit at this point?

“If she wins in West Virginia and Kentucky she’s going out strong. It won’t be that she has a chance. It’ll be that she’s going out strong.”

Hello from Medford, Oregon, way down south near the border with California, where the view from the Holiday Inn Express is as follows:

I’m here to attend a Hillary Clinton town hall meeting this evening at the Jackson County Fairgrounds—a place where, a friend familiar with rural Oregon tells me, I am sure to find many of those “hard-working, white Americans” that Clinton is staying in the race to represent.

Check back later to see how I do and what the white people tell me, but for now I bring you the hard working white man who I sat next to on the plane from Seattle:

That’s David Kirby, 44, the pastor at United Family Fellowship in Klamath Falls, Oregon, just a short drive from Medford. He’s not a Democrat so, unfortunately, I don’t think he falls into the class of hard working white people that Clinton is courting. However, he did have some interesting things to say about Obama.

Kirby is one of those fascinating people who both know that Obama spent 20 years at a Chicago church with a fiery Christian pastor and firmly believe that Obama is a secret Muslim.

“All the evidence points to that he is,” Kirby told me. “I don’t trust him.”

The evidence Kirby has received comes in the form of emails from “watch dog groups” that he listens to, as well as chatter among his friends. He’s heard it all—Obama not saying the pledge of allegiance, Obama’s pastor engaging in hate speech, Obama being a Muslim—and he believes it all.

Granted, he also thinks Hillary Clinton is “crooked as a snake” and he wishes Mike Huckabee had won the Republican contest, but Kirby is nevertheless quite worried about a potential Obama presidency: “Having a Muslim for a president—if he’s true to his faith he’s going to be pushing the Muslim faith.”

I asked Kirby why he thinks Obama went to church for 20 years if he’s in fact Muslim.

“I have no idea,” he replied. “A lot of people have political reasons behind everything they do.”

And why would Obama lie about his alleged Muslim faith?

“If people of your faith had attacked New York City, and that is still fresh in Americans’ minds, wouldn’t you lie about it?”

What would it take to convince him that Obama is a Christian?

“If I heard him say Jesus Christ is Lord it would cause me to listen to him.”

I told Kirby that Obama has, in fact, said he believes in Jesus. Repeatedly.

“Oh, really,” he replied. “I didn’t know that. I hadn’t heard that.”

Kirby gets most of his news from email and the Internet, he told me, and then he instructed me that even if Obama does believe in Jesus, “believing in Jesus and believing that He is Lord are two different things.”

Kirby is from Albertville, Alabama, and he said he used to be filled with prejudice but that Jesus has filled his heart with love. “I don’t even know you, man, but I love you,” he told me.

If he only knew.

After I’m finish asking him questions about the presidential race he starts asking me about my religion. He finds out I’m Jewish. He wants to know if I believe in God. The snack cart interrupts.

I figure it’s dangerous to go down this road, so I decline to mention that airplanes are actually one of the few places where God and I have words.

He asks if I believe in the Book of Revelations. I tell him no, and, gosh, I’m really tired, should probably take a nap.

After the plane lands he tells me he’s going to pray for me as he’s getting into bed tonight. He also tells me that he hopes this image—him talking to God about me in bed—is with me while I’m in bed tonight.

I have been waiting for the day to post this song, and today is that day. For yes, it finally seems that Obama gonna get it.

Earlier today, our esteemed music editor Ezra Caraeff posted on End Hits what he thought was the best Barack-related song out there. Of course, he didn’t know any better. Because he’s never heard THIS, which is not only the best Barack-related song, but is also—according to the band’s page on CD Baby, where you can purchase the album—the greatest song of the year.

So without further ado, please enjoy:

MP3:
The Steelers - Obama Gonna Get It

There are more campaign videos and podcasts, plus official tv and radio ads, than I can keep up with. Here are a few that have crossed my desk in the last few days.

Jim Middaugh has both a radio ad and a campaign video (with a cameo by the Mercury’s own Matt Davis).

Listen to the radio ad here.

His video is posted on their site, but I tossed it on YouTube to make it more blog friendly (hope he doesn’t mind!) found their blip.tv link.

In the other race for city council, Chris Smith has been posting “Conversations with Chris” on his website. They’re good, showcasing what he does best—know a lot about an issue, and talk about it smartly. Here’s the one about sustainability:

John Branam has a radio ad on his website. (It’s not blog-able. Is that a word?)

(P.S. — those two candidates, plus Mike Fahey, Amanda Fritz, Jeff Bissonnette, and Charles Lewis, will appear on stage together for City Club’s Friday Forum tomorrow at noon at the Governor Hotel.)

Amy’s at the dentist this morning, but I thought I’d post this in her absence, because it’s homelessness morning at city hall, after all. City council candidate Jeff Bissonnette, who’s running against Amanda Fritz, Charles Lewis, and John Branam for Sam Adams’ vacant seat, has posted a rumination on the homeless protest outside city hall on his website, hitting back at the Oregonian editorial board’s request, made on Tuesday, for mayor Potter to “end the slumber party” outside city hall:

The main editorial in Tuesday, May 6th’s Oregonian calls for an end to the “slumber party” in front of City Hall. The editors contend it’s time to say “party’s over” to the protesters. They pad their position by saying this message should be accompanied by “ample notice and social services offered to those who need and will accept them.” Trouble is, they offer no long-term solutions to the protesters who, far from having a “slumber party,” are simply organizing themselves to get help from city officials. The Oregonian’s editors are the only ones who think there’s a party going on in front of City Hall. In fact, City Hall is currently the scene of a high-stakes policy debate with homeless people as active participants. As they should be. I’m running for the Portland City Council to be involved in just these kinds of debates and to develop solutions to the many challenges facing the city.

Then he lists seven (count ‘em, SEVEN) ways he’d have the discussion differently. And closes with this:

The City Hall protesters are raising precisely the issues that need to be addressed. It’s unfortunate if City leaders are uncomfortable being put on the spot with difficult questions and are unwilling to consider a new course of discussion. But making the protesters go away doesn’t make the questions and issues go away. As a community, we must respect the protest for what it is: a demand for action. Let’s not turn away from an opportunity to have the City of Portland join the protesters in demonstrating increased leadership to deal effectively with homelessness in both the short term as well as the long term.

That’s why we endorsed him and that’s why, in my personal opinion, you’d be bonkers to vote for anyone else. Still, this is a “democracy.” So I guess you’ll have to make up your own mind. (Hint: You should independently come to the conclusion I’m right about who to vote for in this race. Of your own free will.)

BISSONNETTE: Ready for tough conversations…

The Multnomah County Democrats only endorse members of the Democratic party, even though city