So isn't it blatantly obvious that a primary vote for one of the also-rans just puts Hales that much closer to City Hall? Ugh.

Not that I'm a fan of Smith or anything, but he's much less icky than Brady or Hales.

I'm voting for Fernandez, but I hope that Smith at least makes the runoff.

Just in case, Jefferson Smith proves everyone wrong, this could be the perfect time to start apologizing for my misguided and completely unsubstantiated theory that he is a psychopathic personality.

They do exist in greater numbers than most people think and often end up in positions of power especially if they have the intelligence to portray themselves in a favorable light while hiding the weirdness. I never went public with this theory before, and I only bring it up now to apologize for even thinking it.

Frankly, being a comedy writer, I may have placed too much store in a joke he tells about fooling a blind horse into working harder. I thought it had a little cruelty to it. Humor can be very revealing, but perhaps I overreacted.

I admit, after getting the initial vibe, I went down the old psychopathic checklist before my interview with Jeffy, and a lot of it clicked, except for one key area: proclivity for violence. I didn't have anything on that.

So, as I started my interview with him, I thought I'd kiddingly ask him if he'd ever beaten up a reporter in a Portland coffee shop? I had nothing to support that part of it, except for a few decades of being around. Frankly, I sensed a mean, reckless hothead and I wanted to make him go off the way Tom Cruise made Jack Nicholson go off in "A Few Good Men."

Jefferson Smith is smart and I sensed he knew I was onto him right away, but he definitely heated up pretty fast, then proceeded to act just like I thought he would. Once again, I am not a trained professional - I'm going on vibes here, but if you look up "Personality Traits of a Psychopath" there is an interesting paragraph:

"Grandiose or Egocentric
Arrogant and shameless, psychopaths tend to brag. They are very self-assured, cocky and often domineering. They push their opinions onto others and can’t understand why anyone would disagree with them. Most have big plans for making money but these plans tend to be unrealistic and vague. Often they do not match the qualifications and experience the psychopath possesses. However, psychopaths are adept at encouraging others to give them money to support these plans."

Talking about the Bus Project, he made one classic leap. He said it was the difference in getting Jeff Merkley in a position in the state legislature where he could successfully run for the United States Senate. The Bus Project gave us Senator Merkley. Grandiose enough for you?

Anyway, Mayor-Elect Smith, I want to apologize for being an antagonistic schmuck in the interview. If you can sell your act to Portland, I have to stand back, shake my head, and deal with it. Now, it is true that I later read an article in the Tribune from 2009 which said: 'Smith recalls losing his temper often during high school and his first couple years at the University of Oregon, even getting into fights at the tavern. "I was kind of an angry dude," Smith said.'

Some would say he was just going though a tough time during those years, but my old tavern radar picked this personality type up in 2011. In other words, I concluded that he's still like that, but he's trained himself to control it better.

What was I thinking? Now we have this surge, and one thing we know from the Iraq War is that a surge is always a good thing and never just sold to us to create a perception in the media.

But in case it works, Jefferson Smith, I apologize for trying to diagnose what's wrong with you. I'm not qualified to do that. And if you ascend to the office of Mayor of Portland, may I be the first to offer my congratulations. I also want to state for the record that I think Jefferson Smith is merely an insufferable, pompous a-hole, and my earlier conclusions were way out of line.

If this whole mayor's race wasn't so pathetic, it would be comical.
But I'm not laughing! The city is on life support now, and by the time one of those 3 clowns gets finished there won't even be any viable individual organs left to harvest.

Anger, channeled in the right direction, might be exactly what this town needs at this moment in history.

Easy. Two candidates are for the most part telling the truth. (Whether they are right or wrong, or if they've lied in the past, are not being considered...)

One candidate is flat out pandering and lying. Gee, Mr. Streetcar is pushing that we need to pave streets. Uh huh...he was the one specifically called out for inappropriately answering a question I submitted to a mayoral debate. He was the one that basically was told he was lying by another candidate. And of course everyone is going gaa-gaa over him because he's just going through the routine to get elected (make everyone happy to earn the vote), and then forget about it.

Remember when Sam Adams said that "Portland belongs to all of us?" And then promptly told 90% of Portland to shove it after he won the election?

FYI - All three of our local papers (O, WWeek, Merc) have endorsed Charlie Hales.

I voted for Fernandez, and have been trying to convince everyone I know to do the same.

Current polls show 28% undecided...

Poll is here (mayoral stuff on page 5), interesting stuff: http://news.opb.org/media/uploads/pdf/2012/050212_mayorsurvey.pdf

Brady might do better if she got off the platitudes. We need some precise answers on at least 15 issues, and they don't need to be long. Having candidate's answers including "we need to be sustainable in...." is tiring. And that goes to most candidates.

Also tiring are answers like "we need to review (take a look, consider, examine, prioritize)" to specific questions like "Will you go back to once a week garbage service?". I'm tired of non-answers and the guessing game of what they would really do. Most voters are.

That is one reason I'm voting for Scott Fernandez.

I like the letter to editor the other day where Randy called Charlie a liar. Pretty good stuff!

Jack, how come you didn't post that letter on this blog? Seems like a perfect fit for this discussion.

It would be nice to get someone less concerned with Keeping Portland Weird and more concerned with Making Portland Better. Not everyone rides their bike to their Mcjob at a non profit. Some of us drive and filling pot holes, while not as sexy as spending millions on trains to the void, gets more results.

Re: "If this whole mayor's race wasn't so pathetic, it would be comical."

Portland Native,

KGW agrees with you and expressed their agreement last evening by promoting -- they call it news -- a Voodoo Donut-eating contest among the undistinguished trio on Friday.