Mike Erickson

The clock is ticking for campaign fundraisers: Monday at midnight marks the close of financial reporting for the second quarter.

The reporting period, which spanned from April 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008, will be a marker of which candidates have added to their war chest, which candidates have enough money to maintain their run and which candidates may be falling behind in the money game.

The reports will help bring to light two of the state's most hotly contested races, the U.S. Senate race and the 5th Congressional District race.

Striking down the Millionaire's Amendment by the Supreme Court is a good thing for Mike Erickson, but not just because it limits his opponent's fundraising capabilities.

After coming forward to the Oregonian with more concrete details of her intimate relationship with Erickson, Tawnya is now being sought out by Democratics for a potential television ad attacking Erickson for his hypocrisy when it come to the hot topic of abortion.

Related PolitickerOR.com coverage: Oregonian publishes interview with woman claiming Erickson paid for her abortion

If Mike Erickson thought the allegations of abortion that his opponent brought up in the primary were behind him, The Oregonian's Monday cover story will be a shock.

It is an in-depth interview with Tawnya, the woman who claims she had a relationship with Erickson (R-Lake Oswego) in 2001. Tawnya gives her version of the events that she says led to her pregnancy and later an abortion paid for by Erickson. Oregonian reporters Janie Har and Steve Mayes corroborated her story with a paper trail and two of Tawnya's friends during that time. The reporters flatly determined, "Their story conflicts directly with Erickson's version."

Erickson's former girlfriend, Tawnya, provided the Oregonian with medical records of her abortion and a bill showing the procedure cost exactly $300, the amount she claims Erickson retrieved from an ATM machine right before dropping her off at the abortion clinic.

OTLA is a group of liberal plaintiffs attorneys who tend to donate consistently and generously to Democratic candidates across the state.  But somehow their checkbooks have skipped the Schrader campaign this political season....so far.

State Senator Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) received an endorsement from the Oregon Farm Bureau this week.

"As a farmer who has lived off the land for the past 30 years, I am extremely honored by this endorsement," said Schrader in a press release.

Oregon Farm Bureau President Barry Bushue praised Schrader in the statement. "Kurt has a lifelong professional engagement with agriculture," he said. "Over his career in public service, Kurt has crossed party lines to get positive results and demonstrated his commitment to Oregon's farm families time after time"

After a hard-fought and often tawdry primary against Kevin Mannix in the 5th Congressional District, Mike Erickson’s campaign is pushing the idea of a party unified behind the candidate. A press release issued by the Erickson for Congress campaign today announced a list of endorsements from the Oregon Republican Party’s state convention this weekend.