Well, I don't know many insider details but let me say this about that.
I got on Jefferson's Bus ride twice. The first time, a whole-day's drive and site visit, J.S. and I shared 2 hours of conversation, face-to-face time.
My judgment: He is a natural-born politician, and one of the brightest most aware pulse-of-the-public minds I've ever met. (Lew Frederick was on that trip, too, another Harvard alum; Lew and I have several years 'history' of personal acquaintance. I also shared 30 minutes of face-time with Sam Adams before he was elected mayor, and I didn't judge him with the esteem I give J.S.) This year/Session, I visited J.S. in his Capitol office while I was in the House lobbying Members on a certain Bill, and he wasn't in, but he got back to me. He is just a good wholesome character. (Although, the combination in one person of magnificent brainpower with political instincts is an edgy high-performance personality, susceptible to lust's corrosion of character as often seen when human nature grasps power in-hand -- power corrupts ... and so, herein reserving the right to revise and extend my remarks.)

During our 2nd Bus ride together, Jefferson gave me wide berth and cold shoulder, ('not approachable'), seeming that in his judgment of me he thought I might handicap his ambitions if people find out that he & I know each other. Any folks who also consider me a blemish in their personal address book, (they are probably legion), may like Smith (more?) for agreeing, somewhat, (I guess), with their outlook. (-:

Vote for Brady. She's as close to "different" as we're going to get.

Btw folks smith is the same guy who during the legislative session this year thought it was more important to talk about piping in classical music at max light rail stations than getting people back to work in oregon.smith did nothing about unemployment and jobs during the legislature this year.smith has record of creating jobs either.are you sure you want mr smith portland?

Smith has no record whatsoever of creating jobs.

"He is just a good wholesome character."

Great, let him get a full-time charity job then.

Btw folks smith is the same guy who during the legislative session this year thought it was more important to talk about piping in classical music at max light rail stations than getting people back to work in oregon.smith did nothing about unemployment and jobs during the legislature this year.smith has record of creating jobs either.are you sure you want mr smith portland?

Sounds about perfect for Portland then.

Interesting take Jack. I thought if anything, Smith would hurt Hales more than Brady. My reasoning being that Smith and Hales are part of the non-forking, Goldschmidt/Vera/Ted "tree" that has dominated politics in this state for so long. The eco vote is a valid point, but as others have said, Brady is much better positioned to take advantage of the sentiment for an "outsider" (or a close to one as we can get) to at least get a shot to not screw up as bad as the career politicians have.

Which one gets Mark Wiener?

The developer guys would much rather have Hales than either of the other two, because they know with 100% certainty that they have him in their back pocket.

It's hard to imagine Portland getting any more goofed up, but the current crop of mayorial candidates could just do it. Now I think I understand why the Adam Recall efforts stalled. The second question people had before signing the recall petition was who's going to replace Adams? This usually stopped them from signing.

Geez, if it doesn't cost too much just to file and put some pros in the voter's pamphlet; maybe it might be fun just for a fling to run. I think my platform might be restoring personal convenience as a priority in stump town. Like restoring once a week garbage can pickup service in lieu of forcing people to toil at separating out food scraps from other garbage. Return a plastic bag at the grocery store, and get a new one at the check out stand. Take out traffic calming obstacles for both bike and cars. Place a moratorium on building new street cars and light rail in exchange put some express bus service back in place. Try to get the Feds to finance some dedicated, elevated bike paths.

Also would push to spin out the water and sewer bureaus into a separate franchise with its own elected officials and being totally independent from Portland city hall. Also, spin out the the Police chief's job into a separate elected official so as to increase police accountability.

One can only dream of a world ungreen in stump town.

Bob Clark, perhaps this book might affect your good civics. Web of Debt, Ellen Brown, (she appears in more places around the internet, I see, in recent months, with short briefs (she's an atty.) about The Economy). Municipal moneymatters is undergoing historic Reformation.

Bob Clark, that is the kind of platform that can get you elected. And it is expressed simply without 5 minutes of talk for each position. Polls are showing that this kind of talk is what citizens want. Do it. I'll support you, even if I might disagree on 48% of your positions.

Bob, throw in getting the stored vehicles off the streets, and not only will you get my vote, you'll get a campaign contribution, too.

What is his view on how the PWB have given us the most expensive water/sewer rates in the country?

Ralph Woods,

Jefferson Smith didn't even have this critical issue on his list for discussion at a town hall meeting. When someone asked about the water, he then put water in parentheses to discuss later. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it, silent like other elected officials on this topic.

In my opinion he has not stood up at all to save our Bull Run water and rates.
Guess Jefferson doesn't care if the water is seriously degraded.
His constituents would be greatly impacted by these rate increases of 85%in five years.
I find it troubling to have him claim he is now interested in city issues.
Another political career opportunist?