Kate Brown

And now it begins. The 75th session of the Oregon Legislature opens with supermajorities for the Democrats in the Oregon House and the Oregon Senate. A new Speaker, Rep. Dave Hunt, joins Senate President Peter Courtney. The all-Democratic team in the statewide offices has four new faces - Secretary of State Kate Brown, State Treasurer Ben Westlund, Attorney General John Kroger, and Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian. Governor Ted Kulongoski opened the session with his State of the State address (read in full here): We are assembled here this morning to answer only one question: What do we have to do...

The practice of the citizen initiative has been under attack in Oregon for over a decade now and incoming Democrats Secretary of State (Kate Brown) and Attorney General (John Kroger) are promising to...

House Majority Leader Dave Hunt (D-Clackamas) was elected to be the next Speaker of the House on Saturday when House Democrats met to decide their leadership for the 2009 session.

Hunt will replace current House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland), who won election to the U.S. Senate on Thursday after defeating U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton).

Oregon is no longer a shade of baby blue.  It is a dominant royal blue or possibly even navy blue depending on how you look at it.  Every single statewide seat is held by a Democrat, the Oregon Senate is controlled by Democrats and now the Oregon House maintains a tax-increase permissive supermajority.  The next big race for either Democrats or Republicans is the race for governor in 2010.  Could this next cycle be the start of Oregon's GOP comeback?  Or will Democrats manage yet another big win?  Here's a list of potential candidates from both sides of the aisle.

The defeat of two-term incumbent Republican Gordon Smith by Democrat Jeff Merkley is probably the biggest shocker to all political gawkers around the state, however, there some other races that produced some unexpected results.  Here's a quick rundown.

1.  Kurt Schrader is held below 55%.  A win for fifth congressional Democrat Kurt Schrader was inevitable, but his margin of victory was not quite what many anticipated.  Schrader faced Republican Mike Erickson who had been accused of flipping his position on abortion when convenient, segregating a school dance back in his days as a student at Portland State University, falsifying endorsements for prior campaigns, ignoring pamphlet distribution rules at county fairs and wining and dining himself on a trip to Cuba which his still refers to as "humanitarian."  The fact that Schrader stayed below the big win viability line of 55% means there remains some hope of GOP solidarity in this district and he could face a more credible and challenging opponent in two years.

Campaign staffers who were planning on sleeping in are instead glued to their television and laptop screens Wednesday morning, waiting for more concrete election results.

Democrat Barack Obama is a done deal in Oregon.  Independent polls have him ahead of Republican John McCain by 15 to 19 points in the Beaver State and the McCain campaign has packed it up and funneled all resources to the swing states.  It appears Democrats are making great strides across the state and are expecting to pick up several seats in the Oregon House and maintain a majority in the Oregon Senate.  With the blue tidal wave expected to rush over the entire state, many political junkies are wondering if there is any glimmer of hope for the Oregon GOP this election cycle.  Well, here are a few potential upsets they should keep their fingers crossed for.

Howard Dean at Obama HQ: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean speaks to Democratic volunteers at Obama headquarters in Portland two days before the election.PORTLAND --  Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean stumped with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Portland) and U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) at Barack Obama’s Oregon headquarters Sunday night, urging volunteers to work as hard as possible in the next 48 hours to turn out as many voters as possible.

Kroger addresses SEIU: Attorney General candidate John Kroger fires up SEIU volunteers at Local 49 before heading off to canvass Washington County.Several Democratic candidates appeared to rally Service Employees International Union volunteers at the SEIU Local 49 hall in southeast Portland before they headed off to canvass Washington County neighborhoods on Saturday morning.

A poll released Friday shows that secretary of state candidate Kate Brown (D-Portland) and state treasurer candidate Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) are both winning their respective racesstate treasurer.