Political Desk

Here’s a sampling of what arrived over the weekend:

From Our Oregon, a liberal political action committee, the mantra for Election ‘08 will clearly be: “ Once a Racketeer, Still a Racketeer.” That’s a reference to Bill Sizemore, who got hammered last week by the Oregon Supreme Court.

A Multnomah County jury in 2002 found that that Sizemore’s nonprofit forged signatures and misused contributions to get two initiatives on the ballot in 2002. The measures, which voters trounced, would have crimped payroll deductions for union dues. The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday upheld damages.

From the Constitution Party, we have word from William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration. He predicts “a political meltdown” in November over immigration. The electorate is “likely to choose” a political outsider — who in this case is the party’s presidential, candidate Chuck Baldwin.

From the industry newsletter Wheatworld: Congress was out of town for the July 4 recess, but “discussion continued” about commodity prices. Also, the USDA reports that while the supply of high protein wheat supply has rebuilding potential this year, stocks are likely to remain relatively tight into 2009.

From another liberal group, Democracy Reform: Of nearly $2.3 million dollars raised to qualify the 11 measures anticipated to be on the November ballot, 50 percent came from businessman Loren Parks. Big surprise, here: He contributed to initiatives spearheaded by Bill Sizemore, Russ Walker and Kevin Mannix.

Finally, a “big announcement” from the Barack Obama camp turns out not to be a VEEP pick, but rather the news that on Aug. 28, the Democratic presidential candidate will leave the convention hall in Denver and join 75,000 people outside for a free, open-air event where he will deliver his acceptance speech “to the American people.”

Campaign manager David Plouffe promises “an amazing event.”