Let me get this straight ... Wu's campaign said that his most recent opponent was a dangerous nut job. Then, his campaign staff quit en masse because Wu is a dangerous nut job.

In a side note, it downright hilarious that Carla "I'm a blogger not a reporter, so I don't need no stinkin' facts" Axtman is gives us this gem:

I've been privy to a slew of unsubstantiated rumors and stories--but nothing I've felt reached the level that could be reported.

But Wu has one thing going for him. He has a (D) after his name. Pure gold in most of Oregon.

Sounds like he has some demons he's wrestling with. I hope he gets the help he needs. The honorable thing to do would be to resign to concentrate on getting better, but I won't hold my breath.

I wonder if it's the stress of the possibility of losing the re-election and having to go out and get a real job.

But Wu has one thing going for him. He has a (D) after his name. Pure gold in most of Oregon.

If by "most" you mean the Portland metro area.

Jon, the Portland metro area is, in fact, "most" of Oregon. The metro area has 2.2 million residents - while the state has 3.8 million. That's "most".

GW, Carla (and I) are bloggers. That means we mostly do commentary - not news reporting. That said, facts do matter. And neither of us is going to "report" unsubstantiated single-source second-hand rumors, especially ones that are personal and damning.

Now that the Oregonian has broken the news - with actual, confirmable facts - well, we'll see what else breaks loose.

Sorry, Kari. I must have misread this skunk that Carla was swinging around:

A couple of interesting biographical notes about Huffman:

He was Dean of Lewis and Clark Law School from 1994-2006. Rumors about Huffman's resignation as Dean had come my way, but I can find nothing to substantiate them. Unless that situation changes, there's nothing there that I know of.

See how easy it is to write off 1.6 million people?

It's the same as it ever was. In Oregon politics, what Portland wants, Portland gets. The rest of the state can pack salt.

Actually, MachineShedFred, what the majority of voters want, they get. And people in Portland Metro, Eugene-Springfield, Corvallis and Salem tend to want pretty similar things. I'm not trying to be sanctimonious, but it's a pretty weak whine to say that getting fewer votes means getting written off.

MSF --

Nobody "wrote off" 1.6 million people. Certainly, none of the Democratic campaigns I work with.

As a Dem, you can't win statewide unless you get a substantial minority (25-30%) in nearly all of the counties of the state. Those that ignore those rural Democrats are the ones "writing off" voters.

As Evan Manvel wrote on BlueOregon back in November:

Kitzhaber wouldn’t be headed to Mahonia Hall if not for the 19,000-plus voters in Douglas and Klamath counties who supported him, even as those counties went for Dudley overall. And Chris Dudley got over 74,000 votes in Multnomah County.

Every voter counts just as much every other voter. Most votes wins. That's how democracy works.