That's it, I'm voting for Hales. I know the damage a lying politician can do. Jeff and his anger management are a mystery train I want no part of. Jack, I admire your Griffin-Valade stand, she's superior to these candidates. But I've come to the conclusion that the time for a protest vote was the primary, time to suck it up and go lesser of two evils

"A delusion is a belief held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological."

Portlandia being forward thinking and progressive and all, maybe we could in initiate a recall before the election even happens. That'll make national news at least.

"initiate a recall before the election even happens"

That's just crazy enough that it might work.

Wow. He must be scary smart. I can't understand any of that quote. Mensa member maybe?

...That's just crazy enough that it might work.

Some "outside the box" thinking needs to be done here
or we will be "boxed in" to the insider's agenda.

If it really doesn't matter who wins between Hales or Smith then this is the perfect situation for a write in candidate.

I say write in Jack Bogdanski to show your displeasure with Hales and Smith.

A protest vote in the primaries for the mayor's race is one of the dumbest things I've heard in a while.

"I'll honor that space and culture"?

There it is. This is why I call him a "Smart-Talking Fool" - for a brief moment he sounds quite intelligent before the words crumble to the ground in a big pile of stupid.

Throw in the violence and you have a real problem child here.

Now watch Torrid Joe and his old blogging partner Carla rush to defend what a magnificent person Jeffy is. This is a progressive version of Newt Gingrich.

It couldn't be any more obvious if Jeffy had a flashing sign on his head that read "Loser".

Look, its obvious I'm no Nutsy fan, but what he's saying is along the lines of "If I have the time and if you guys will have me, I want to come back and play in your games and I will follow your rules."

I'm not defending Nutsy, but while is writing style is clumsy and ineffective, it is not totally incomprehensible.

Not like thew writing style of, say,Eric Engstrom, at Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, writing about the Portland Plan farce.

Nonny, I agree. But why not simply say, "If I have the time and you let me return, I will behave myself?" Because it implies that he misbehaved to begin with, perhaps? And heaven forbid he admits he acted like an oaf.

Copy that and big "10-4 Good Buddy" to what Bill M. wrote above.

That quote almost sounds like Wimpy from "Popeye" ("I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today"). Or that famous narcissistic psychotic sadist, Oliver Hardy (to Stan Laurel: "Now look what you made me do").

Culture can mean, "the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses)."

Maybe Jefferson's talking about where he hit the other man. "I'll honor that space and culture" could mean he won't punch the man in the balls again - especially since there's apparently something growing on them.

I think you mean to say growing in them.

Gotta say, everything is really coming together for Mr. Smith. He's such a jackass he's sure to win.

Between Hales and Smith, we're screwed either way. If I had to choose between them -- and I won't, I'm writing in LaVonne Griffin-Valade -- I'd be voting to try to get one of them out of my face forever. Smith is unemployable, and so he'll never give up politics. Hales, on the other hand, will probably quit Portland politics if he loses this one. And so Smith is the better choice.

If you vote Smith in, he'll be in your life everyday from now on.

At least with Hales, there's a chance he'll get a better offer and leave.

But then Smith will be our congressman. And we certainly don't want Hales as mayor and Smith as congressman.

Double bullseye there, Jack!

Maybe when Smith gets elected he'll do an annual charity event where instead of getting into a dunk tank perch, he'll let people punch him in the nuts for a buck-a-bang. Step right up!

In my opinion, Hales is the ultimate fox in the hen house, he wants back in to finish up the job, putting the nail on the coffin of the city we once had, The City of Roses. By the way, is he still on the payroll of HDR?

Just ask Char-Lie. And whatever he answers, we'll know: it's the opposite!

Don't want Jefferson either.
Scott Fernandez will be my write in for Mayor.
You all know I have been on the water and our debt issue. Fernandez is the only one qualified to deal with this most critical matter and also the super fund river cleanup.
We would be so fortunate to have a scientist with integrity in charge.

You've just undercut your own plan. You know that one of these two sorry candidates is going to be our next mayor. You know you believe one is even worse than the other. With that background, a write-in vote is wasted.

Between the President and his moments with teleprompters, and flash cards, and calling the islands off the tip of South America the Maldives, and Jefferson Smith, Harvard looks more and more irrelevant. Another exemplar of the world becoming increasingly surreal in its system of rewards. How does a Harvard grad not at least understand that email is permanent, and that as a politician writing a public email, he'd better hope he has the singular-plural grammar wiring slotted correctly. And most importantly, he'd better not sound completely ridiculous with the new-agey-"we all love each other even after we sock eachother in the nuts during a community basketball game"- phraseology. Oh, and "y'all" is incapable of sounding anything but completely pompous and condescending and ridiculous, in this context, over email, in Oregon. "Y'all"?...?...

Please.

Being smart is no longer the key criteria for getting into Harvard and other top schools.

Best ways to get in are via diversity, legacy, or overcoming adversity while growing up.

We have recent examples which prove this point!

PC and affirmative action have brought this to us.

Hales seems to be the lesser of two evils. I won't waste my vote with a write-in, even though I respect the principled reasoning behind that suggestion.

This may have been discussed earlier on the blog, but isn't a write-in candidate ineligible in a run-off? In other words, even if Griffin-Valade took 90% of the vote, the winner would still be Hales or Smith, whichever one got 5% plus one. I think in this case it's not just a wasted vote because the write-in candidate is unlikely to win, it's a wasted vote because the write in candidate cannot win.

You mean all those years I wrote in "Frank Zappa" didn't count?

These candidates were pre-selected by the insiders and press for the citizens of Portland. How did that feel? Now, we are to accommodate the "fixed system" by voting for the lesser of two evils? Sorry, at some point, the people have to rise up and say enough is enough of this! This is the point. This city cannot afford to continue this sham.
A lot can happen between now and November, and I say we ought to be prepared to do a write in campaign. I will not waste my vote on lesser of two evils. This should be a coordinated effort and the write in person would preferably be one who had already taken a serious consideration to run for this position.

When the "fix" is in by vested interests, across the country, we can no longer be sheep to participate in the "fix."

Bill,

Writing in Frank Zappa is never a wasted vote...

Zappa is also proof that if you are a high profile person and you suddenly seem to be any threat whatsoever to the corrupt power system, something bad just might happen to you.

You know you believe one is even worse than the other.

I don't believe that. They are both equally, horribly awful. Seriously. I have thought about this for months now.

...Seriously. I have thought about this for months now.

So have I.
I got out of Dodge for awhile and wouldn't you know, the first person I ran into at my destination told me he was a finance and bond person, and had investigated several cities, etc. I got an earful. So much for getting away from it all.