Our governor isn’t fairing so well amongst Oregonians, according to the latest SUSA poll. Ted Kulongoski only has a 44% approval rating. And he doesn’t fair well amongst his more liberal constituents, 32% of whom disapprove of his job as governor. Ouch. He needs that vote if he wants to win the next election, that is if he makes it out of the primary.

Let’s hope the primary is a tough one, because Oregon Democrats need to have a serious debate about education funding, conservation issues, health care and money in politics. Of course, this blog along with the rest of Oregon’s net-roots activists will be promoting and contributing to the necessary debate about the future of this state.

I’ve always thought of Kulongoski as a triangulator rather than a visionary or a movement progressive like the governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer. What? Montana, red state of all red states has a progressive governor!? Believe it or not, but it’s true.

If Schweitzer can be an all out progressive in Montana, what’s holding Kulongoski back? While we’re trying to find that out, we can learn about the other Dems who want the nomination:

Vicki Walker, state senator from Eugene has this to say on her campaign website:

Oregon has been run by special interests and a deep-seated “good old boy” network of politicians and insiders for too long. In the Legislature, I’ve taken on these entrenched networks in order to bring more transparency and accountability to our government.

Can’t argue with that!

Pete Sorenson, who also would like to knock Kulongoski out of the final run, says this on his website:

I am an unashamed conservationist, populist and, above all, a Democrat - one with the real, old-fashioned Democratic values of being for working families, their jobs and their communities, and ultimately for their well being.

I like that too!

I can’t seem to find a campaign website for Jim Hill, a former state treasurer and 2nd runner up in the ‘02 Dem primaries. He’s noted to the press that Kulongoski doesn’t have experience in economic development whereas Hill does.

Let the debates begin!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.