Presidential election

According to a June 23 Survey USA poll of Oregon voters, Barack Obama has a 3 point lead over John McCain (48% to 45%) for President, down from many of the recent Oregon polls giving Obama a much greater lead and out of synch with Washington State polling.

NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof warned Hillary Clinton not to be the next Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader issued a statement to Hillary:

"This is America. Just like every other citizen, you have a right to run. Whenever you like. For as long as you like. It’s up to you, Hillary. Just tell them — It’s democracy. Get used to it." So for all of us who remember the '60s, here's Roger McGuinn (with cameo by Portland's Matt Groening, others).

A federal judge in Michigan has held the Michigan primary process illegal–but not for any reason you might think. Minor political parties challenged the Michigan practice of supplying voter lists of party registrants to only the Republicans and Democrats. This ruling will not have any practical effect on the 2008 election, but it adds weight to the argument that the Michigan delegates should not be seated at the Democratic Nominating Convention.

We like this topic of the "Tonya Harding" strategy by Hillary Clinton's backers for winning the Democratic presidential nomination, just so we can shamelessly show a picture of one of Oregon's best wild women.

Voter fraud or voter confusion? Or dirty tricks? We heard a lot about the Texas “two-step” primary + caucus, and the opposition “strategy” urging Republicans to choose the Democratic ballot in the TX primary. Now the Elections Clerk for Harris County (Houston area) has turned over 1,167 names of voters suspected of voting in more than one primary to the District Attorney, according to local Houston TV report.

Remember the “Dummicrat” for a day effort of right-wing talker Victoria Taft endorsed by The Oregonian’s David Reinhardt? (In Oregon this really should be the “Democrat for 3 weeks” plan since you have to change your voter registration by April 29). The idea is to encourage Republicans to re-register as Democrats in time to vote in the Oregon May 20 primary for the weaker general election Democrat. This copy-cat plan is inspired by the kind of fun Rush Limbaugh suggested in his very hyped effort at ratings and relevance just before the

Third-party candidates in the Western US just got a legal boost. Take note for the 2008 presidential election: The First Amendment protects vote-swapping arrangements, according to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The bottom line according to the Court is that vote-swap websites allow expression of opinions and candidate preference and are thus protected core political speech.