Election 2012

I always get a little too excited when my ballot arrives. Mail! For me! Pretty much every Oregon voter should have their ballot by now—I got mine Friday. If you’re wondering about how to fill out that shiny ballot which has just arrived, check out our voter cheat sheet. If you’re wondering how to encourage […]

By one vote—one stinking vote—Mayor Sam Adams edged out housing activist Cameron Whitten in yesterday’s completely scientific poll as Blogtown’s preferred write-in mayoral candidate. (Nice try, Cam, with those all-day, all-night #fakemayor Twitter pleas. Almost! There’s always 2016!) It was a solid showing by the lame-duck mayor, who wasn’t even trying and still managed to […]

CNBC says that while Mitt Romney is definitely going to have the cushier retirement, President Obama’s pension—subject of that memorable exchange at the debate—is pretty sweet: From the standpoint of a public pension, Obama is well-heeled. As president, he will receive $191,300 annually for life — win or lose in next month’s election — and […]

We made up our minds this week on which flawed candidate ought to be mayor next year. Sometimes it’s a stinky job, but it’s what we do. But it’s pretty clear that an awful lot of you have yet to do the same. And who could blame you? You start leaning toward Jefferson Smith, but […]

“We, as a nation, want so badly for this Binders Full of Women joke to work,” Mercury contributor Suzette Smith tweeted this morning. Correct! People are really trying to make it work. HOWEVER. Before you dress as a binder for Halloween (I think I got that joke from NPR this morning!) you should familiarize yourself […]

It’s a gift to reporters and interviewers—and it’s certainly refreshing—but Jefferson Smith has yet to fully master one of the subtler secrets of politicking: Running his thoughts through a filter before saying them aloud or, worse, writing them down and emailing them to a reporter in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes that can […]

Politico has a transcript of Rush Limbaugh’s head explosion from earlier today. Conservatives last night were waffling between blaming the audience (Goddamned New York libruls!), blaming the fact that there were excessive questions by women (Goddamned women!), blaming Obama (Goddamned interrupter!), and blaming Candy Crowley (Goddamned uppity woman journamalist!). Here’s what Rush decided to land […]