Kitzhaber sounds like a whole lot better choice to me, speaking as a bleeding-heart liberal. The consensus seems to be that he won on polish and showmanship as well. However, how many people watched this debate? Probably not too many. And if Dudley has a 6% lead, even if every single person who watched was Dudley voter who decided, after watching, to switch his or her vote over to Kitzhaber, it might not be enough to make a difference.

Dudley made a smart choice by limiting himself to a single debate. It is depressing to realize that this man will most likely be our next governor.

Chris Dudley: a noun, a verb, and jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs.

Obviously that's the message that's testing best this year. Good luck to all those candidates out there running on anti-jobs platforms.

Kitzhaber won. Better at putting two sentences together, and also able to turn a little wonky when necessary. He sounded very familiar with the inner workings of state policy, which is of course to be expected (and pretty much what he's running on).

Dudley - much like Hughes in the Metro race - seems a little too eager to sell Oregon's sustainability down the river for whatever cash we can get for it.

I have to say though, my impression of Dudley did improve from at first thinking he sounded a little dopey, to eventually thinking he can express himself decently well. I just didn't like what he was expressing.

Lars Larson is kicking himself for not running for Governor after watching those two losers.

The Kitz and the Dud. Where's the choices?

If Chris Dudley is going to beat Governor Kitzhaber, he should start doing it on the court, and not in the locker room. Please debate Kitzhaber on Friday. If not, you've lost any chance of me voting for you. You have to make your free throws. Stonerfluid Somewhere in Portland

If Chris Dudley is going to beat Governor Kitzhaber, he should start doing it on the court, and not in the locker room. Please debate Kitzhaber on Friday. If not, you've lost my vote. You have to make your free throws. Stonerfluid Somewhere in Portland

Dudley won the debate.....he crushed in the first 30 minutes, and held on to win in the last half. Anyone outside the cacoon of the Multnomah County liberal fold will see Dudley as being a confident, capable alternative to the status quo cabal that has been leading this State since forever.

Hey, I happen to like the liberal, status-quo cabal. And without it in place, how are we ever going to institute the death panels?

Oh... I've said too much.

i love it when people like buch declare The Truth in such an authoritative manner. it's the basis of most sitcoms: everyone else can see how messed up they are, but they persevere as if it matters.

"your" candidate always wins. in this case, Kitz gave more direct answers, was more specific, and, in the case of the two "house" questions showed himself to be classier, choosing not to attack Duds while CD took the low road and attack Kitz' character. i think we learned a lot in that little exchange.

You know, Princeton did a study a few years ago and determined that most people judge a political candidates competency within seconds of seeing their face. Period. Issues did not matter. Stance did not matter.

Through their study, researchers determined that they could accurately predict the winners in approximately 70 percent of the races for U.S. senator, and governor in the 2006 elections, based solely upon the faces of the candidates.

So now the question is can Oregonians vote based on content or is this a runway competition.

How in God's name is it that the "progressive" candidate, Kitzhaber, is the one supporting the most regressive form of taxation of all? Sales taxes punish the poor. This inner SE bleeding heart is voting Dudley.

there is not just one kind of sales tax. if Oregon passed any, it would exempt almost everything low income people buy. it would be aimed at higher end products, luxury goods, etc. and it would replace some of the income tax. that would directly benefit low income people. the income tax in Oregon is terribly repressive, mostly because when incomes drop (as they have been doing during the recession), services that low income people rely on (not to mention those of us who send kids to public schools, like to have cops on the beat, etc) get whacked. have you noticed that, ere? we can't depend on the income tax, and we can't overturn M5, so we have to find some solution.

and a form of sales tax, progressively structured, is the most likely answer.

A sales tax is only regressive if it is applied to necessary items such as food, clothing, and the like. Many states have sales taxes that specifically don't target a gallon of milk but rather are payed for more luxury goods like a television or computer. I'm under the assumption that any plan Kitzhaber would put forward for a sale tax (which I doubt would ever happen in the first place) would be similarly modeled, but perhaps I'm just being naive.

Sadly, for those who do not understand how government works and what the role of the legislature is and that for the last 8 years we had K-ulongoski not K-itzhaber, the facile repeating of memorized lines by Dudley..the "just a normal guy but very rich"... and without a clue as to what a governor does held his own because , like an advertizement jingle, he is meant to appeal to the vast uneducated and inattentive.

....In other words, for the "average" inattentive voter, Dudley held his own or won.

The electronic age is a wonderful thing. Between watching on TV and following comments online, the debate felt much more inclusive. While I don't see an ideal candidate, I know who I'm NOT voting for. Most of Mr Dudley's answers were canned rhetoric, with a horoscope/fortune cookie vagueness. Mr Kitzhaber knew what he was talking about, and did so with confidence.

The one definitive answer I remember from Mr Dudley? When asked if he would debate in front of the City Club, he simply said, "No."

As one of them libruls: I don't want a sales tax and I'm down with the execution of the OLCC. Does this mean I'm gonna vote for the baller? Aww shit.

If Dudley did THAT well in Libral ville- Hawthorne-- just think how well he'll do in the rest of the metro area and the rural areas. 60-40 GO DUDLEY