Quite a few folks checked in here over the last couple of days to read my rants on the Oregon and Portland ballots. As the vote-counting slows to a near halt overnight, here is how I did so far:

Where I lost: The Portland parks and library tax measures appear to have passed. I don't begrudge these folks the several hundred dollars a year this will cost me, but I am disappointed that so few voters can see through the thick smoke pouring out of the City Council and County Commission.

The genetically engineered food labelling measure went down hard, as I suspected it would. This is another common case in which a group gets a measure on the ballot, and then hasn't a penny left to campaign effectively. The big bucks from Monsanto and elsewhere squashed it like an organic banana.

Too close to call: The governor's race, which left me quite ambivalent anyway (though I voted for Ted Kulongoski); the local tax measure for vaguely defined child development programs (I voted no); the proposed increase in the minimum wage (I voted yes), and the ballot measure that would have state appellate court judges elected by district (I voted no).

The winnahs! I had the winning horses in Sen. Gordon Smith, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, City Council contender Randy Leonard, bonds to earthquake-proof public buildings (passed), the measure to reduce the age for serving in the legislature (failed), "none of the above" for judicial races (failed), universal health care (failed miserably), and the prohibition on paying ballot measure canvassers by the signature (passed).

I can live with this! As for the revived Republican Congress joining the Republican White House, that's quite another story, and quite another post.