BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- A long, hard primary season, which for some of the candidates began over a year ago, came to an end last night with wins for John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley.

The election results were released soon after the polls closed at 8 pm Tuesday showing Kitzhaber winning the Democratic nomination with 65% of the vote and Dudley winning the Republican nomination with 39% of the vote.

Emotions were running high at the election night parties for the losing candidates Bill Bradbury and Allen Alley, who conceded their races early in the evening.

Alley urged his supporters to unite with the party nomination to bring about change.

“That’s what Oregon needs more than anything else is to look forward and step boldly where we deserve to be at the top of all the lists we want to be on and not at the top of the lists we don’t want to be on,” he said after conceding the Republican race to Dudley.

Meanwhile, excitement was certainly alive at the election parties for Dudley and Kitzhaber.

A large group of Kitzhaber supporters gathered at Southeast Portland’s Melody Ballroom to congratulate the former Democratic governor on his victory. Kitzhaber took time to thank his supporters and to lay out his agenda for green jobs and economic diversity.

“We’re going to give Oregon a campaign about honestly confronting the problems we face and the hard choices we must make in order to solve them. That is the kind of campaign that Oregonians deserve and that’s the kind of campaign Oregonians want,” stated Kitzhaber. “That is how we are going to build a new Oregon majority, and that is why we are going to win in November.”

A similar scene was found for Dudley at the Rose Garden’s Rose Room where the former Trail Blazer had his election night party. Dudley stressed the need for change and unity in Oregon while throwing some attacks at Kitzhaber’s record and his calling Oregon “ungovernable” after leaving office 8 years ago.

“As your Governor, I will never throw in the towel. I will never give up on Oregon because I know you won’t either,” said Dudley. “Together, Oregon won’t be ungovernable. We’ll be unstoppable.”

Dudley and Kitzhaber are wasting no time after their wins, each having events scheduled for Wednesday morning.

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- The latest poll conducted by the SurveyUSA polling firm shows that if the gubernatorial election were held today, John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley would have large wins in their respective primary races.

The poll, which was released on Monday, shows Chris Dudley winning the Republican primary with 42% of the vote and Allen Alley coming in second at 24%. Similarly, John Kitzhaber is shown to win the Democratic primary with 59%, while Bill Bradbury gains 25% of support from respondents. The other candidates in each race each gained less than 10% support. The number of undecided voters in each race came in at 12% in the Democrat primary and 14% in the GOP primary.

While Dudley’s and Kitzhaber’s campaigns were both encouraged by the numbers in this poll, Bradbury’s and Alley’s campaigns were skeptical of the results.

“Any poll that has Bradbury leading among conservative Democrats is a poll to be highly skeptical of,” says Jeremy Wright, spokesman for the Bradbury campaign. “The Bradbury campaign has talked with over 50,000 likely Democratic voters with live calls and the race is far closer than this poll indicates and the number of undecided voters is a lot higher.”

The spokesmen for both Alley and Bradbury questioned the methodology of the poll, considering the polling is done by an automated polling system.

“The Republican sample in this poll is random, not scientific,” added Tim Maloney, Campaign Manager for Alley. “SurveyUSA’s methodology of randomly dialing households with an automated system fails to control for trends in Republican primaries.”

This skepticism is not stopping Kitzhaber’s and Dudley‘s campaigns from feeling confident. Derek Humphrey, campaign manager for John Kitzhaber, said he was encouraged by the numbers but that his campaign would take nothing for granted in the coming days.

Dudley’s campaign shared a similar sentiment. “The poll is a reflection that Chris’s message is resonating with Oregonians,” said LeRoy Coleman, Communications Director for the campaign. He added a note of caution, saying, “We still have a ways to go before the primary and he will continue to fight for each and every vote.”

SurveyUSA conducted the poll on behalf of KATU-TV. To reflect Oregon’s population, just over 2,000 adults were interviewed, with 1,850 of those respondents registered to vote. Each of the primary polls for the Governor’s race had under a 5% margin of error. The Democratic primary poll had a 3.9% margin of error, while the Republican primary had a 4.7% margin of error.

While election ballots already have been mailed to voters, the date for ballots to be returned for the 2010 Primary is May 18.

Maloney added that surveys can only say so much about an election: “This race is closer than this poll would have you believe. Elections are decided by the people who vote, not answer surveys.”

PORTLAND- Friday’s Democratic gubernatorial debate, hosted by the Portland City Club, tested the candidates’ policy positions on hydropower.

The candidates were asked whether dams in Oregon should remain because of their low carbon footprint or whether they should be removed as part of the effort to save native salmon in the Northwest.

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BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- The latest poll tracking Oregon’s gubernatorial race, released Thursday, found that Republican candidate Chris Dudley ties both John Kitzhaber and Bill Bradbury, the two Democratic candidates running for Governor.

Rasmussen Reports, who conducted the poll, interviewed 500 of Oregon’s likely voters.

The interviewees showed that when put against Kitzhaber, Dudley tied the former governor at 41%. When put against Bradbury, Dudley also tied Bradbury at 40%.

When interviewees were polled about one of the other Republican candidates, Allen Alley, the two Democratic candidates took a majority of the support. Against Kitzhaber, Alley drew 33% of voters, while Kitzhaber took 48%. Bradbury gained 43% of support against Alley, who took 34%.

Support for the third Republican candidate included in the poll, John Lim, resembled that of Alley. Bradbury claimed 44% against Lim’s 32%, while Kitzhaber claimed 50% against Lim’s 34%.

The same poll showed that more respondents (55%) believed their views were closer to those of President Obama than to those of the average Tea Party activist (37%).

PORTLAND- In a forum hosted by numerous members of Oregon’s business community, Democrat candidates John Kitzhaber and Bill Bradbury answered questions from participating oreganizations on matters of policy ranging from the state’s budget problems to education and transportation issues.

FULL DEBATE PART ONE

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FULL DEBATE PART TWO

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FULL DEBATE PART THREE

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FULL DEBATE PART FOUR

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CLOSING STATEMENTS

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BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- In a rare move by the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, the environmental advocacy group announced Tuesday their endorsements of both Democrat gubernatorial candidates Bill Bradbury and John Kitzhaber.

“A dual endorsement is fairly rare, but this is an exceptional case,” said OLCV Political Action Committee Chair Charlie Burr. “Having two gubernatorial candidates with such especially strong environmental credentials represents a milestone in Oregon’s environmental movement.”

The group announced its support of former Governor John Kitzhaber because of his past actions and policies dealing with the environment and because of his perspective of placing environmental issues in the larger social and economic context.

“As Governor, John Kitzhaber led the way on key environmental policies that still protect Oregon today,” stated OLCV Executive Director Jon Isaacs.

Support for Bradbury comes from his activism on climate change and the policies he developed as a state legislator.

“From the work for salmon he started nearly 30 years ago to his recent mission to help Oregon fight climate change, Bradbury’s actions speak loudly of his commitment, his vision and his leadership,” said Isaacs.

The announcement comes after an environmental debate last week, which was sponsored in part by the OLCV.

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- The house was packed Wednesday night at Portland State University for the gubernatorial debate hosted by five of Oregon’s largest environmental organizations.

Three candidates for the office of Governor appeared at the event: Democrats John Kitzhaber and Bill Bradbury and Republican Allen Alley. The sponsoring organizations included the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Environment Oregon, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, the Oregon Environmental Council, and Oregon Wild.

The three candidates were fielded questions by the five hosting organizations on multiple environmental issues including land use, toxics and public health, climate change, forestry, salmon restoration, energy, transportation, and the Columbia River Crossing project.

As the lone Republican, Alley spoke his mind encouraging the use of markets and technology to improve the environment. He said his number one priority if elected will be jobs and the economy, with environmental issues following the needs of the economy. Additionally, Alley promoted the use of personal, as opposed to mass, transportation and said it was time to get going on building the Columbia River Crossing project. He encouraged private-sector energy innovation and market-based environmental solutions.

Bradbury drew large applause when he called for the closing of the coal-powered Boardman plant after its license expires in 2014 and for strong energy regulations to open the market for renewable energy needed to combat climate change. He also stressed the need to stop old-growth logging and to work more aggressively on salmon restoration efforts. He supported a new proposal on the Columbia River Crossing project, advocating for a smaller mass transit plan and a pedestrian bridge, instead of building an entirely new bridge.

Kitzhaber promoted similar ideas regarding improving bike paths and mass transit; but he differed with Bradbury on the Columbia River Crossing, suggesting a plan similar to the current project proposal. He added that an ideal energy policy would be to eliminate subsidies from the equation and let energy sources compete in a free market. While he was not in favor of using natural gas currently, it should not be eliminated as an option if the need arises. He also encouraged further salmon efforts and new leadership on the State Board of Forestry.

Conflict came at the end of the debate when Bradbury accused Kitzhaber of taking money from polluters and Kitzhaber then saying, “Way to lower the bar there, buddy. I guess we take the gloves off from here on out,” quietly to Bradbury after the conclusion of the event.

Republican candidate Chris Dudley declined to attend the event.

BY SARAH ROSS

BEND- Gubernatorial candidate and former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury earned the support of the Bus Project Sunday, winning the group’s straw poll by a 13-point margin over former Governor John Kitzhaber.

The straw poll conducted at the end of the Bus Project’s “Rebooting Democracy” event held in Bend, showed Bradbury winning with 55% of the voters and Kitzhaber falling short at 42%.

Following the straw poll results, Bradbury said, “I am extremely honored to have won this straw poll. To have the support of the young activists of the Bus Project across the state who do so much to engage, energize and mobilize voters is a great boost to my campaign.”

The Bus Project is a non-profit organization for young activists around the state, holding policy and candidate forums as well as voter drives to “bring voters out of the woodwork.”

UPDATE: Dudley’s other big money contributors include Sports Agent Dan Fegan with $100,000, Managing Director of M Benefit Solutions Steve Shepard with $50,000, American Industries with $25,000, Common Sense Investment’s President James Bisenius with $25,000, owner of the Florida Marlins Jeffrey Loria with $50,000, investment manager Edward Maletis with $15,000, and banking executive Diana Yates with $5,000.

BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- Former Trail Blazer, Chris Dudley, has brought in the most campaign contributions so far for the month of March in Oregon’s race for governor.

Bringing in just over $309,000 during March, as of Tuesday, Dudley had only one large contribution from a company, S&G Properties, which provided an in-kind, non-cash contribution of $14,000. He also had several large private donations this month, including one $50,000 contribution from Phil Knight, co-founder and Chairman for Nike.

Some of the big name contributors this month for Oregon’s former governor, John Kitzhaber, are Safeway giving $10,000, Union Pacific giving $5,000 and Kroger, Inc. giving an additional $10,000. His total March contributions, as of Tuesday, were just over $110,000.

Allen Alley and Bill Bradbury also received private donations this month, mostly coming in at the $5,000 level and below. Alley has brought in just over $111,000 for March and Bradbury showed just under $10,000 for March, so far, with his last listed contribution made on March 13^th.

Total campaign contributions since 2008 are as follows: Dudley leads with $1,101,272; Alley’s campaign has received $1, 079,317; Kitzhaber has brought in $737,159; and Bradbury trails with $384,960.

All calculations are based on numbers from the Secretary of State’s election tracking system, ORESTAR.

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- Democrat gubernatorial candidates John Kitzhaber and Bill Bradbury both gained support from union organizations this weekend with endorsements coming from the AFL-CIO and the state’s teachers unions.

Former Governor Kitzhaber received the private sector endorsements of the AFL-CIO, which add to his list of endorsements from numerous other labor organizations including firefighters, carpenters, and electricians.

In their endorsement of Kitzhaber, AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain praised Kitzhaber for his understanding of the pressures faced by union members and middle-class families.

“Of all the candidates he has the strongest plan to create jobs and help lead Oregon out of the recession. We are looking forward to playing an active role in his campaign,” said Chamberlain.

Meanwhile, the Oregon Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and the Oregon School Employees Association announced Saturday their endorsement of former Secretary of State Bradbury.

“It is clear to us that Bill Bradbury understands our schools and our students need support today – not sometime years in the future. He knows today’s students deserve the high quality education they have been promised, and as governor he will fight for them,” stated OSEA President Merlene Martin.