On the flip side, now you have to fill the right column on your web page with new adverts.

The honeymoon is over already?

The honeymoon is over already?

Didn't Jack already point that out?

I just don't get why you keep on referring to our house district as Gerrymandered. Take a look at the map, Jack:

http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dbcs/elections/map/house_senate_overview.shtml

There are few straight lines. Boundaries have to be somewhere.

Did something traumatic happen to you at one of Jackie Dingfelder's town hall meetings at the Hollywood Senior Center? Was it when the riff-raff showed up? You know, citizens like me who might shop at Parkrose Hardware on Sandy more often than dine at Perry's on Fremont? Or was it "those people" east of 1-205 who took the Tri-Met number 12 bus?

Beauty and the Beast... Cyreen and Dembrow.

Amazing that the Beast won.

Life is like that sometimes....

Did something traumatic happen to you

First of all, my wisemouth friend, you don't get to do that here.

Second, look at the northern and eastern boundaries of House District 45. They're crooked. In more ways than one.

BTW, I spend lots of money out your way.

Boundaries have to be somewhere.

You're going to have to come up something better than that, unless you were kidding and I missed it.

Jack, I am puzzled by your gerrymander reference as well. No legislative district is a perfect square. District 45 looks to be reasonably compact and certainly contiguous. "Gerrymandering" usually implies drawing district lines to favor one political party -- and surely that was not the intent in drawing district lines on the east side of Portland, where it would be nearly impossible to draw ANY district that did not have a Democratic majority.

It may also be possible to "gerrymander" a district to favor one particular incumbent or candidate, regardless of party affiliation (though that is not the usual meaning of the word). So are you saying that when the district borders were last established, after the 2000 census, there was favoritism for a political party, or for a particular politician, that played a role in drawing the boundaries of District 45? If not, what was the "gerrymander" motivation that you perceive?

There's Democratic, and then there's machine Democratic. Maybe it was perceived that close-in places like Irvington, where I live, are more likely to follow the party overlords' commands than those at, say, 122nd and Sandy. And so it looks to me like I might be in there to cancel out any independent leanings that the folks in Parkrose might develop. Certainly the two neighborhoods have few concerns in common.

And come on, Charlie, look at those northern and eastern borders. They look like jigsaw puzzle pieces. What the heck are they all about?

The Multnomah County districts on the map in Eric's post look pretty compact and contiguous to me. It seems pretty obvious that at least one of the "inner southeast" districts HAD to push east of 205 in order to achieve population equality. They could have pushed District 45 south instead of east, but then they would have had to push District 46 east of 205. Would that have been preferable? If so, why?
I would be surprised if you could come up with a map, using the 2000 population data, that did not combine two or more neighborhoods that had "few concerns in common."

I'm still quite skeptical of Mr. Bradbury's magic marker, and I'm sure Ms. Brown's will be similarly creative.

Anyway, the folks in Rose City Park now have a representative who lives just a block outside Irvington. You wonder why that is.

From my home, if I walk three blocks north, south, or west, I am in House District 43. From Dembrow's house, it would be three blocks south, five blocks west. This little peninsula is in District 45 for no good reason.

Is it really gerrymandering, in the traditional sense, when there is really no chance of anyone other than a progressive / liberal being elected in any of these districts, however you slice up the neighborhoods? The Republicans haven't even bothered putting up an opponent in most of these state races for several years.

BUT YOU ENDORSED HIM!

So? He was the least of the three evils, and just barely that.

"I'm still quite skeptical of Mr. Bradbury's magic marker, and I'm sure Ms. Brown's will be similarly creative."

Amen - Welcome to the machine.

Of course it's blatantly obvious that you keep Cyreena's lit pieces on the bed stand for when your missus is gone. Nice try with the front but we know whats up. Buster-ology 101, son.