Sources Say

Pick a wild card, any wild card

The Portland Tribune, Jul 10, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

It’s not news that if Mayor Tom Potter has indeed grown sick of his third-floor office at City Hall, Commissioner Sam Adams will be happy to move in. The question remains, who might challenge Adams in such a race?

Now Sources Say hears that former city Commissioner Charlie Hales again may be considering a bid, knowing that it’s now or never.

Hales, who had earlier downplayed speculation about a mayoral run, could tap into the sizable anti-Adams contingent out there, while potentially trumping Adams’ credentials with the Portland transit mafia and outdoing him as a strong voice on police oversight.

But, wait, there’s more. Developer John Russell says that he’s ruled out a race against Republican U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, but he is considering running for either the mayor’s office or Adams’ council seat.

And yet another wild card is Lolenzo Poe, a former school board member and aide to Multnomah County Chairman Ted Wheeler who Sources Say hears is seriously considering a mayoral bid.

Still another factor to consider: a push to put the new domestic-partnerships law on the November ballot has the potential to turn out Adams’ base in the gay and lesbian community at just the right time.

Will an Independent take on Sen. Gordon Smith?

Of late, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been casting about desperately for a candidate to challenge Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, causing speculation to arise even about nonpoliticians like John Russell.

In comparison to such speculation, however, one name sounds like a sure thing — John Frohnmayer. The only catch? He’s not a Democrat.

Frohnmayer, brother of former Oregon Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer and an art historian at Oregon State University, is a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under George H.W. Bush.

A registered Independent who formerly was a Republican, Frohnmayer told Sources Say he plans to announce his decision around Labor Day, but political observers say that his candidacy is very close to a sure thing.

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