Political Desk

Hello everyone, back in the saddle here. It’s been a busy few days. There’s a lot going on.

First, here’s our coverage of the House District 24 Republican primary race, which ran in Saturday’s edition. It’s been termed “the primary to watch,” and I would not disagree. In fact, I spent a fair amount of some time watching it yesterday, as the following roil concerning Jim Weidner and Jim Bunn spilled out into the open. Also had a lively but cordial discussion this afternoon with a Weidner supporter over what constitutes “going negative.” Read it and judge for yourself.

Also, speaking of lively: Last night’s candidates’ forum over at the McMinnville Senior Center ended with a bang, as Donna Nelson and Leslie Lewis got into it over that veterans’ park issue that we’ve reported on previously.

Challenger Kris Bledsoe, meanwhile, I thought made good case contrasting her positions with Lewis’. Between those two, I thought it was one of the more useful exchanges on land-use and private property rights I’ve heard in quite a while: They were articulate, passionate and made good arguments for their respective positions. Look for that on Channel 11 in the next few days.

Some other tidbits, unrelated to stories in today’s paper: I’m told by my editor who saw it with his own eyes that Obama’s office has, in fact, opened an office on Third Street. (I don’t know where it is.) We’ll have something on that Thursday.

Also: The Newberg Graphic weighed in on the House 24 race Saturday, giving their nod to Ed Glad. How big a deal is that? I haven’t the slightest idea: I had a publisher one time who joked that for political candidates, a newspaper’s endorsement during a campaign was the proverbial kiss of death. Who knows? Depends on a lot of things. Like: The candidate. The other candidate. The newspaper. And, of course, the readers and voters.

I had to chuckle last night at the comment by Clerk candidate Jeff Doty regarding newspaper endorsement interviews: “It can be pretty daunting,” he said. “They hit you with some pretty intense questions.”

I’ve only sat in on one here — it was years ago, and I can’t remember who it was or why I was invited to be in the room. Standard operating procedure is for the candidates to meet with our editorial board alone — no reporting staff allowed: Unless I pick up some office gossip, I typically don’t see who’s getting the endorsement until I pick up the News-Register on my front doorstep Saturday mornings. Which is probably how it should be.