By the way, those of you who bother to read political blogs surely know this, but here’s a reminder anyway: If you haven’t mailed that ballot by now, deliver it yourself. They’re due by 8 p.m. Tuesday, meaning that they must be in the Yamhill County Clerk’s Office by that time or one of the officially designated drop boxes.

Partisans take this stuff seriously, which is why the right and left wings of the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, often grumble that the candidate who makes it to the general election isn’t conservative or liberal enough. You’ll see that happening this year with Ralph Nader, and it’s also going to dog John McCain all the way to Nov. 4.

That’s the debate going on in District 24, and as my article today notes, the target is Ed Glad, who — political questions aside — is one of the better prepared political newcomers I’ve interviewed over the years.

He’s been catching flak over his membership in and work for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. In the political blogosphere, he’s been linked ominously to union “thugs,” “henchmen,” and “goons.”

Notwithstanding the fact that American labor has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, I think a dialogue like that doesn’t give enough credit to Republicans who happen to be — due to a myriad of complex factors — members of unions.

They may be a minority, but their numbers aren’t small, either, and probably vary depending on the trade. Long before he was president of the United States, Ronald Reagan was the president of a union, the Screen Actors Guild, in that liberal enclave known as Hollywood. And other than Glad, another local GOP-er and union member who comes to mind is — surprise — Jim Bunn, the third candidate in the race. He’s with Teamsters Local 223. And, I’m told, he played a key role in recent talks over staffing levels in the Yamhill County Jail, where he works. No one, to my knowledge, is complaining that Bunn is a Teamster.

When I contacted Glad about it, he said he preferred to “stick to the issues.” I pointed out that for some Republicans, at least, his union work is an issue. Glad is politically savvy enough to get that, but on the other hand, as a lifelong conservative, he’s understandably exasperated by it.

“My opponents have yet to attack my agenda,” he said this morning. “Perhaps it’s because they know I am advocating for the things that are important to the people of our district.”

It may not be an issue in his mind, but I think everyone understands that how this shakes out will be of immense importance to Republicans of all stripes, union or not. Off the top of my head, I can think of three or four conclusions that either camp might make about a Glad or Weidner victory.

And, of course, it will have implications for how things play out in November, when the Republican candidate — whoever it happens to be — will have appeal to more than just Republican voters. The seat has been held by a Democrat before, and Sal Peralta’s strong showing two years ago illustrates that, depending on the candidate, political affiliation may not be as important to voters in November as it is to the party faithful in May.

By the way: Make a mental note to check here on Election Night after 8 p.m. We’ll have staffers blogging their stuff in from various locations around town: the Yamhill County Clerk’s Office, candidates parties, etc. Tentatively, our plan is to update the NewsRegister.com web site as we ordinarily do for elections, but we’ll lean toward posting developments on the blog first.

The prevailing theory, which I’m inclined to agree with: Voters — Democratic voters, rather — are waiting to see if either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama have anything new to say over the next seven days as their respective campaigns pound the pavement in Oregon. Given how long they’ve been campaigning, I doubt it, but it is a welcome change to have presidential candidates giving Oregon some sustained attention. Sorta makes us feel like Iowa or New Hampshire.

Obviously, this has implications for all candidates, who — if they’re smart - must assume that there is still a significant number of undecideds out there who could be swayed before May 20. I heard from one well-known local conservative over the weekend who indicated that he’d actually changed his mind on one local race fairly recently. Didn’t say which one.

Keep checking back here, as it’s possible that Obama or Clinton (or both) might show up in Yamhill County before it’s over. We just got word (with virtually no detail) that Obama will return to Oregon next weekend. When I know more, I’ll put it here first.

Blog host Coyote says that Bunn’s response to the “alert” that Weidner’s supporters sent out over the weekend was that “he took umbrage that Jim Weidner’s name wasn’t one of the signatories on the letter.”

That’s not exactly true.

I interviewed Bunn briefly about the mailer, and while he obviously was critical of the letter, I don’t recall him making any reference to or expressing an opinion about the fact that Weidner did not sign it. What he did say was that it was difficult at first to determine who was responsible for sending it: Something along the lines of “Paid for by Friends of Jim Weidner,” or whatever. I reported the fact that the candidate himself was not one of the signatories. It seemed like a relevant point, given that the return address was the post office box for Weidner’s campaign.

Then, someone called “CommonSense” follows with the declaration that: “It was the News-Register who sought Bunn out, not the other way around.” How does he know this? “I know,” he says.

That is inaccurate. I learned about the mailer because Jim Bunn called me Monday afternoon and told me about it. The reason he knew about it was that members of his own family had received it.

Does this constitute “planting” the story, as CommonSense suggests? That seems unnecessarily conspiratorial. Reporters talk to sources, and sources talk to reporters. I suppose if I arrived at work and found a copy of the letter in a brown paper bag on my desk with no note, we could talk about “planting” stories. And actually, I’ve had campaigns where a candidate who felt slighted called and asked for a story; that wasn’t the case here. Bunn brought it to my attention, made the comment that appears in print, and left it at that.

Frankly, I don’t regard the question of how the News-Register learned about it as particularly important. You cannot do a mass mailing to voters, or even some of them, in a hot primary race and expect to keep it a secret. If Bunn hadn’t called me, someone else surely would have, and then I would have called him for his comment.

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.

By JULIA SILVERMAN
The Associated Press

PORTLAND — Oregon Sen. Gordon isn’t waiting for Democrats to pick a candidate for him to face off in November.

On Friday, the Smith campaign launched an ad that takes equal aim at the two Democrats vying to challenge Smith, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley and Portland lawyer and activist Steve Novick.

In the ad, a male narrator questions whether Merkley and Novick can truly claim to be the “candidates of change,” the buzzword that every politician seems to be trying to appropriate.

The ad dings first Merkley for accepting campaign contributions during the one-month legislative session in February, then Novick for a newspaper profile that alleged that he “doesn’t just tolerate taxes, he celebrates them.”

But the ad leaves out a few key points. Merkley voluntarily did not take money in the February session from lobbyists and others with an interest in legislation. He did raise funds from other individuals, citing an opinion from the legislature’s lawyers that the fundraising rules did not apply because he was running for a federal office.

And Novick has disputed with the characterization of the newspaper profile, though he has been a longtime advocate of educating consumers about how their tax money is spent.

Smith, who faces only token opposition in the GOP primary, has made it clear he intends to use some of his $4 million-plus campaign cash on hand to go after his Democratic rivals now rather than waiting for the fall campaign.

In a statement, Smith’s campaign spokesman said that the ad “shows voters what they need to know about Jeff Merkley and Steve Novick,” after nearly a year in which Smith has been silent in the face of the Democrats’ attacks on his record.

But Jake Weigler, Novick’s campaign manager, said the ad, “makes clear that Gordon Smith knows he can’t run on his record. The fact that that he would claim that he is an agent of change after sitting in Washington and doing nothing for 12 years is almost laughable, if the results weren’t so stark for America.”

And a spokesman for Merkley, Matt Canter, accused Smith of “lying about Jeff Merkley’s record out of the box.”

“He (Merkley) went beyond what he had to do, and refused even a penny from lobbyists in Oregon while Gordon Smith was collecting contributions from lobbyists in Washington, D.C.,” Canter said. “It is the height of hypocrisy from Gordon Smith.”

Also, we continue our local coverage today with a package on the race for Yamhill County Assessor. Scott Maytubby and David Devine each want to be the guy who takes the office over from David Lawson when he retires, so here’s something to help you see how these guys think. Be sure to see the links at the bottom of the story for a full-length Q&A with each candidate.

Next up: County Commissioners on Thursday — Leslie Lewis, facing three challengers: Kris Bledsoe, Donna Nelson and Curt Johnston. We’ll round it out Saturday with a look at the very interesting Republican primary race in House District 24.

Also, mark your calendars for Tuesday, and check Thursday’s paper for further details, on a candidates’ forum that Friends of Yamhill County and several resource groups will sponsor next week. And: Larry Bohnsack’s guest on KLYC’s “Political Cup of Coffee” tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. will be the House District 24 candidates - Ed Glad, Jim Weidner and Jim Bunn.