News Column

On the Town

Finally, a dash of drama in guv's race

By phil stanford

The Portland Tribune, Aug 29, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

To be perfectly honest, until last week the governor’s race was putting me to sleep. I mean, here we are in the dog days of August:

On the Democratic side is incumbent Ted Kulongoski, whose job approval rating has climbed recently to about 44 percent – or to put it another way, just a few points higher than President Bush’s.

And over here, on the Republican side, running approximately 10 points behind Kulongoski in the polls, is business lawyer Ron Saxton – whose biggest selling point, as near as I can make out, is that, unlike his opponent, he’s not a professional politician. Although, to be fair, it’s certainly not from lack of trying.

Running as a moderate last time out, Saxton didn’t make it past the primary.

This time, in an apparent effort to woo some of those hard-core Republican voters, he’s presenting himself as a tad more conservative.

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Which is why, when a Republican lawyer named Kelly Clark filed a complaint with the secretary of state’s office asking that minor-party candidate Mary Starrett be taken off the ballot, there were those who suspected Saxton might be behind it all.

Starrett, the former host of the popular “AM Northwest” TV show, is running for governor under the banner of the conservative Constitution Party.

In other words, she’s clearly a threat to siphon off some of those conservative voters Saxton will need in November.

For months, Saxton supporters like Lars Larson, the influential talk show host, have been urging Starrett to drop out of the race.

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