Oregon: Kitzhaber Will Not Run for Governor

[Frodo]

Kitzhaber says he will not run for Ore. gov.

05:56 PM PST on Friday, January 13, 2006
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. - Former Gov. John Kitzhaber announced Friday that he won't try to recapture his old seat, clearing the political landscape for fellow Democrat and incumbent Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

Kitzhaber, 58, a former emergency room physician who left politics in 2002 after declining to make a run for U.S. Senate, has been publicly musing about a race for months, saying his campaign could be a platform to promote sweeping health care reforms.

Instead, he said Friday that he will focus on a broader campaign to "bring change to the American health care system."

"The people must come together and agree on broad vision for what our health care system should look like," Kitzhaber said. "The political process cannot do it for them."

The plan he has put forward would scrap Medicare and Medicaid in Oregon as well as the tax break that employers get for insuring workers. They would be replaced them by a basic, government-paid policy for every resident, and then allow people to buy additional coverage in the private market.

To accomplish that, Kitzhaber says, the federal government would have to let Oregon waive requirements under federal Medicare and Medicaid laws. The state would use that flexibility to pool all public dollars spent on health care - estimated at $6.4 billion a year - to pay for basic universal coverage.

source

[Alcon]

This is actually bad news for the Democrats, no matter how you cut it.

Conventional punditry says that a divisive primary results in pain come General Election time.  However, Oregon has had a Democratic Governor for a long, long time - the second longest in the country, behind Washington.  There being no primary will only add to the feeling of stagnation that is putting incumbent Kulongoski at risk.

That being said, the Republicans have made the mistake of their life by nominating Kevin Mannix.  No candidate could less take advantage of the feeling of the "same old government" than the same old candidate who ran in 2000.  Kulongoski wasn't popular then, and he isn't now, but neither is Mannix.

This race is a toss-up, but expect a surprisingly uninteresting race considering.

[Keystone Phil]

That being said, the Republicans have made the mistake of their life by nominating Kevin Mannix.  No candidate could less take advantage of the feeling of the "same old government" than the same old candidate who ran in 2000.  Kulongoski wasn't popular then, and he isn't now, but neither is Mannix.

Mannix was nominated in 2002, not 2000, and he hasn't won the nomination in Oregon for this year just yet. He is being challenged by a State Senator (there are other candidates but none of them seem all that serious). Mannix has 29% in a recent poll and while the State Senator (Atkinson) has only 6%, a whopping 53% remain undecided. The primary could get interesting.

[Alcon]

That being said, the Republicans have made the mistake of their life by nominating Kevin Mannix.  No candidate could less take advantage of the feeling of the "same old government" than the same old candidate who ran in 2000.  Kulongoski wasn't popular then, and he isn't now, but neither is Mannix.

Mannix was nominated in 2002, not 2000, and he hasn't won the nomination in Oregon for this year just yet. He is being challenged by a State Senator (there are other candidates but none of them seem all that serious). Mannix has 29% in a recent poll and while the State Senator (Atkinson) has only 6%, a whopping 53% remain undecided. The primary could get interesting.

Yeah, 2002, sorry.

Atkinson represents the second district.  I don't know much about his politics (it's not easy information to find) and his web site could not possibly be less informative, but I'd wager he's pretty conservative.  He's from Central Point, an extremely conservative farming town in Jackson County; his district extends from the conservative farming parts of Jackson into the slightly less conservative but still solidly Republican Grants Pass area.

It'll be interesting to watch, but he might be too conservative for Oregon.

[MarkWarner08]

Oregon politics is never dull!

Our popular former guv  has now announced he will forego a gubernatorial bid to spend more time with his.... health care initiative. Kitzhaber used to be, along with Dean, one of only two doctor/governors. He's created the Oregon Health Plan, a well-intentioned effort to help Oregon's poor get access to health coverage sadly, the Oregon GOP has slashed the budget for the program forcing Kitzhaber to now go to the voters with a ballot initiative.

Meanwhile, Mannix, the thrice defeated statewide GOP Chair, Saxton, the RINO and Atkinson, endorsed by a prominent local right-wing radio host, are battling it out for the GOP nomination. No matter who wins, they will lose in the general because they will either alienate moderates or conservatives. Oregon Democrats have a strong chance to take back the State House and assume full control over our government.

[Alcon]

MarkWarner08,

What part of Oregon are you from?  So far, we have representation in Eugene and Bend (both Democrats).

[MarkWarner08]

Portland area. Now the Atlas has all of Oregon's city trifecta.