His real name is Mr. Congressman
Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle, Earl (of the Pearl) Blumenauer, my congressman, announced this morning that he's not running for mayor of Portland.
As I've said here before, he is a great congressman, and so this is good news for his current constituents and the nation.
Blumenauer's exit leaves my neighbor, Commissioner Jim Francesconi, as the clear front runner for the mayor's seat. There's talk of Commissioner Erik Sten running against him, and I'd relish that prospect.
Heck, I'd volunteer to write the negative ads about Erik for free.
I have a hunch there's still one other credible candidate lurking in the wings, but who? Mark Kroeker? Ha ha. Randy Leonard? A great choice, but probably not yet properly "aged" in his city commssioner's job. Kate Brown? She was said to have wanted Earl's seat in Congress. One of the Multnomah County (ooh, I want so much to say "babes") commissioners?
Amazing news.
| Posted at 12:41 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (4)
He had a hard time getting through parts of his announcement. It quite obviously was a truly difficult decision for him to make, no matter how much he thinks his decision is the right one to have made.
I just hope he isinterested in finding some sort of role for himself in the conversation the mayoral election needs to become.
Posted by The One True b!X | September 2, 2003 12:44 PM
Oh, and for what it's worth, Sten's chief of staff tells me that he thinks Sten will "have something to say in a week or so."
Posted by The One True b!X | September 2, 2003 3:39 PM
I noticed in today's Oregonian that Steve Duin seems to loathe Mr. Francesconi. I'm not quite sure why, based upon my reading of his past columns. Any thoughts on this?
Posted by Gordo | September 3, 2003 4:35 PM
Email him and ask.
Posted by The One True b!X | September 4, 2003 12:01 PM