This is such an uninspiring race. One guy would rather be philosopher king, but since that job doesn't exist, he's running for governor again. Kitz actually has some good ideas, but his total disdain for the political process means he won't get anything done.

Meanwhile, the other guy's resume consists of surviving 12 years in the NBA, primarily because he's seven feet tall. I have to question is intelligence of work ethic. Dudley shot 46% from the free throw line for his career, never improving. Joel Przybilla started out with Dudleyesque free throw percentages but through relentless practice has become a respectable free throw shooter.

Yeah, maybe I'll write in Joel.

2nd paragraph, 21nd sentence should read: "I have to question his intelligence or work ethic."

Can't eat lunch and type at the same time.

I wouldn’t vote for Kitzhaber if they promised me winning the lottery (well maybe for a million or two). I supported Alley but that is no longer an option. I have been listening to what Dudley has been saying lately and he is getting a lot better. I would rather have him to veto all the crap the liberal Democrat legislature is going to come up with than Kitzhaber who will rubber stamp everything and put this state in worse condition to California.

John Benton:

Your comparisons of California are funny, because Arnold Schwarzenegger(R) -- another famous political star like Dudley w/ little experience -- has done his damnedest to put Cali. in their position that you speak of.

WS, no the California Democrat legislature put CA in their position. Arnold just didn't veto enough of their crap.

Arnold puts the "stamp" on things, as you say.

In fact, he just vetoed a bill worth $2 billion in cuts from the budget:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-09/schwarzenegger-vetoes-2-billion-of-cuts-from-budget-correct-.html

I'm not privy to the very details of the bill.

The fact that either a Democrat or Republican is inclined to be fiscally responsible (or irresponsible) is erroneous.

Of course, Arnold's only in the position he's in now because he was able to take advantage of Republican billionaire Rep. Darrell Issa's campaign to recall Gray Davis after the state went in the tank due to the double hit from the tech bubble collapse and the scams Enron and other energy companies ran on California.

The energy crisis of early 2001 forced the state to solve its rolling-blackout problem by signing a humiliating $40 billion in long-term energy contracts, the cost of which was passed on to consumers on a sliding scale. Bills today [2002, the year before Davis's recall] are as much as 67% higher than in 2000.

$2 billion in cuts today starts looking like small change compared to the money Enron sucked out of the state.

Sometimes you have to vote against someone by voting for someone...I'll be voting for Dudley as we cannot afford another 4 years let alone 8 years of Dr Denim

3.5M people and these are the two best?

Tired/recycled ideas vs. no ideas.

Wasn't Dudley exposed for not voting more than half the time in recent elections? How can you take him seriously if he didn't even bother to vote previously? All the money in the world isn't going to make people believe he actually cares about what happens in Oregon if he can't be bothered to vote himself.

Charles,

That's your barometer for Kitz over Dudley?
Dudley missed voting a bunch of times?

And that will indicate to masses of people he doesn't care what happens in Oregon?

Gimme a break. That is so silly.

He's running for governor. He obviously cares.

We are not voting for Arnold. He's not even running in the race! Arnold is a democrat in republican clothing, and he has rubber stamped so many things into law in CA. John Benton is comparing the common practice of most legislative democrats that is well known, while you are comparing one man to all republicans. It's an argument that doesn't hold water.

Sure, Arnold signs or vetoes various bills. And bottom line he is the man in charge. I don't think John was asserting that we need Arnold running things. He's a bad governor. FACT: The heavily democratic California assembly has wasted and spent California into their current position. FACT: The Oregon Legislature has the same mentality of the CA Assembly, with the same hair brained ideas and the same nannyness. FACT: Dudley would prevent a lot of that stuff from happening. WS, you are kidding yourself to think otherwise. Sure, cute comment about Arnold being a republican, but really your assertion that it is all his fault is entirely false.

Charles,

Many politicians miss elections and votes as well. I really don't feel bad that Dudley missed elections, and wasn't able to vote for some district chair (vote for 9) when there is only one person listed on the ballot.

As a relative of someone who has run for office, I can attest that not only does the public scrutinize your entire history and record even though you may be like any other guy, and they will attack you personally and nit pick at everything. Especially here in Oregon. So if you're going to go through all that stuff, you're driven by strong desires. I believe Dudley is genuinely interested, he genuinely cares and it is his desire to help change things. As he said, we're now eating off the table Kitzhaber set. We need to go in an entirely different direction. If we don't change direction, the path is straight off the cliff.

Charles,

That article you read was a hit piece on Dudley. I can't remember which organization but one of them went and dug into the other canidates voting history. Seems they all voted around the same amount of times. Think Jack even covered that here but that's why they run hit pieces. The public sees the first headline and not the followups.

Cross over like so many of us did in 08. Vote for change that you can believe in.

I am not thrilled about either of them. I used the Dudsters website to express the hopes and concerns I had with his candidacy. The response was pure double talk, gibberish. Just stand up and say what you are thinking and what you will do. Have some balls that don't bounce.

Thanks but.... no thanks to the dudster.

I, like many here, was hoping Alley would prevail. But I saw potential in Dudley as he became more comfortable having to become a "politician" to please the media. And I sensed his basics. Many of us just wanted more precise positions and not platitudes and most candidates weren't providing them except Alley.

Dudley's decision to support Alley's call to end the state's Lottery funding of Milwaukie Lightrail to better prioritize the state's deficit budget has lead me to support Dudley. The $550 Million total of all the state's governmental jurisdictions costs, plus debt costs and cost overruns to build Milwaukie Lightrail will exceed $1.2 Billion dollars. Then there is still the federal contribution of $850M. Delaying or ending Milwaukie Lightrail will go a long way in solving Oregon's $2 Billion debt. All in one swoosh.

Dudley is giving solutions and Kitzhaber is still talking "investment", meaning new taxes and fees.

Governor Schwarzenegger lost his ability to do anything for the people of California when he decided not to work with public employees and teacher's unions here in California. Anyone who knows anything about California politics knows:

1. California has term limits for state legislators. 8 years for state senators and 6 years for state assembly members.

2. As a result of term limits, the interests groups are the permanent political fixture along with the usual state bureaucracy of staffers and state agency employees leaving them a gross influence over the financing of potential state legislators.

Arnold's incompetence, or shall we say the vast competence of the permanent political fixtures, was outed in the November 2005 special election he called with measures aimed at knocking the knees off of the public employees and teacher's unions. All of his measures failed, thus forth he failed.

Neither Whitman nor Poizner have a chance in the shadow of Schwarzenegger's catastrophic failure to redefine California poltics. Poizner is too much of a kook who voters cannot decide whether he is the RINO who ran for state legislature in 2004 or the tea party conservative of 2010. Whitman has all the right credentials to go with her financial ties to Goldman Sachs, but she is just too damn ugly and gives off too much of a hyped up, power point vibe for uninformed voters to vote for her.

Thus, like Kitzhaber in 2010, it is Jerry Brown's race to lose. Like Kitzhaber, I don't see Brown losing.