Ted Kulongoski

State Sen. Doug WhitsettAs President Bush and Washington, D.C., lawmakers debate lifting the ban on offshore drilling, state Sen. Doug Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls) came out in support of offshore drilling and chastised Gov. Ted Kulongoski for not doing the same.

House Speaker and U.S Senate candidate Jeff Merkley’s (D-Portland) campaign Monday accused U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) of being powerless to help his own state after President Bush snubbed Oregon’s fishermen by denying them disaster relief on Friday.

We can all exhale now that Governor Ted Kulongoski is back from his gallbladder surgery.

Since the last elected Republican governor of Oregon, Vic Atiyeh, took office in January of 1979, it doesn’t look good for the party’s 2010 prospects.

A new poll shows state House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) trailing U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) in his bid for U.S. senate.

The survey, conducted by Rasmussen Reports, shows Smith ahead of Merkley 47 percent to 38 percent. Eight percent of respondents chose “other” and 7 percent said they were “not sure.”

Some Republicans are saying that a loss by Mike Erickson to Kurt Schrader in the 5th district House race could help conservative Kevin Mannix stage a comeback in 2010 – either through another race for Governor (he came within three percentage points of beating Ted Kulongoski in 2002 and lost a primary in 2006), or for the GOP nod to run against freshman Schrader.

Summer in Oregon: a couple of rare months of sun will be shining on what Governor Ted Kulongoski hopes are mills state employees arriving at work powered by their own steam.

The Governor today set a goal of reducing the state’s carbon footprint by 500,000 pounds of carbon—or roughly 2.5 percent—a target which will most likely be facilitated by astronomically climbing gas prices.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is prepared to switch his support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama, but only if he can be part of a larger group of prominent Clinton backers to go public, according to Democrats close to the Governor.  Kulongoski has been the target of some intense lobbying in recent days, and has deliberately avoided any effort to stop key Oregon Democratic Party leaders to join the Obama team.  Last week, three Oregon superdelegates announced their support of Obama.

Mark Hatfield, who served two terms as Governor and five terms in the United States Senate, was honored this week with the designation of the Health and Science University Board of Directors as the Mark O. Hatfield Chair.  Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed an Executive Order that salutes Hatfield’s devotion to the state’s health care system.

Steve Novick, who came within  four percentage points of winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, is already giving serious consideration to running for Governor in 2010, according to sources close to Novick.  Novick believes he can hold on to much of the 41% he received in the Senate race, while the remaining votes would likely be split between other establishment candidates competing for the Democratic nomination.  The incumbent, Democrat Ted Kulongoski, is term-limited.