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.”

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%).

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- During Tuesday’s debate hosted by several members of Oregon’s business community, Republican gubernatorial candidates Allen Alley and Chris Dudley presented their similar views on how to get Oregon’s business environment booming again.

Questions from the sponsoring organizations included how the group would handle the next budget, how they would improve education, and how they would boost trade overseas. Dudley and Alley presented similar answers to each of these questions saying they would need to tackle spending and put more power with the local governments rather than at the state level. In terms of education, they urged similar tactics putting spending with the districts instead of the State. To boost trade, Alley said that businesses should take that responsibility while Dudley thought he could play some part in the process if elected.

When it came time to answer questions from the audience, the candidates were asked how they would implement policies when faced with Democratic majorities in the Legislature. Alley stressed that he would use the power of appointment to put more business people in charge of State agencies and Boards and run them like private corporations. He also noted the use of executive orders and vetoes. Dudley said he would use his leadership to develop greater communication in the policy arena so that participants in the discussions would do what’s best for Oregon as opposed to favoring partisan interests.

Watch the full debate below:

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BY THE OREGON POLITICO

LAKE OSWEGO- Oregon Politico interviewed Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley on Monday to discuss his positions on education, the environment, the economy, and the role of government.

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YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZY9U-oSN9w

BY SARAH ROSS

PORTLAND- The four leading candidates for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Chris Dudley, Allen Alley, John Lim, and Bill Sizemore, faced tough questions Friday from leaders at the City Club of Portland.

When each of the candidates was deemed by the Club’s judges to not have adequately answered the question asked, they were each given additional time to try and answer the question again.

John Lim was asked how we would, as Governor, represent the interests of Oregon’s socially liberal and moderate youth.

Sizemore was made to face his current court proceedings with a question asking him how he was a better candidate for Governor considering the current accusations against him.

Alley was told to tell the crowd how he would be better suited to boost the state’s when the company which he founded, Pixelworks, has had to send jobs out of state and overseas and has lost much of its market value since 2000.

Finally, Dudley was asked whether he thought teachers, firefighters, and police officers are paid more than they deserve and what the proper level of compensation should be for these public employees.

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YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo2svwfA3I0

The candidates faced additional questions on topics such as education, climate change, land use, and how they each compared themselves to Tom McCall, former Republican Governor of Oregon. To conclude the event, each of the candidates were allowed to ask one other candidate a question of their choice which brought up issues like abortion, leadership, and Democratic candidate John Kitzhaber’s previous time as Governor.

BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- Common Sense for Oregon announced Thursday that the conservative group has endorsed Republican candidate Chris Dudley for Governor.

This move comes after Dudley received endorsements from the Oregon Business Association, the Oregon Farm Bureau, and the Oregon Restaurant Association.

“From Day One, Dudley’s message has been spot on,” said Ross Day, Executive Director for Common Sense. “Oregon has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”

“In addition, Dudley’s plan for Oregon will reverse over two decades of policies implemented by the state that have damaged Oregon’s ability to be a national leader in education and economic development,” Day added.

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- The Oregon Business Association made their decisions Tuesday to endorse gubernatorial candidates Chris Dudley and John Kitzhaber in their respective primary races.

The chair of the OBA’s political action committee, Scott Bolton, spoke on each of the candidates’ qualities for the position of governor.

“Governor Kitzhaber earned the OBA endorsement by honestly addressing the difficult issues we are facing as a state and by committing to address the challenges ahead in partnership with Oregon’s businesses,” remarked Bolton on the Democratic candidate, former Governor John Kitzhaber.

Referring to GOP candidate Chris Dudley, Bolton said, “Chris came to OBA with a clear understanding of the challenges facing Oregon and specifics about his plans to address those issues. He has fresh ideas and a sincere willingness to listen to the business community.”

The Oregonian reports that it is unclear if the OBA will endorse a candidate in the general election.

UPDATE- Allen Alley won Sunday’s straw poll at the Dorchester conference by a margin of 60 votes over 2nd place winner Chris Dudley.

BY SARAH ROSS

SEASIDE- Amidst the annual gathering of Oregon Republicans, known as the Dorchester Conference, the three Republican candidates for governor debated the state’s top issues and their strategies Friday night.

The candidates, Allen Alley, Chris Dudley, and John Lim, met at the conference where participants each year vote on the Republican Party positions on state and national policy issues.

The debate, moderated by Eastern Oregon’s Congressman Greg Walden, R, consisted of questions on Eastern Oregon, drawing young and independent voters, the Klamath Basin agreement, education, and tax policy.

The candidates‘answers on each question were similar and even they each admitted that there were not many differences in their policy ideas.

When asked their top priorities, each man stated jobs was the issue needed most to be focused on.
“We need government to work on the same side as business and not against it,” said Dudley in his answer also naming education and putting into place an administration with business experience.

Alley specified his answers to not just creating jobs, but instead creating careers through economic freedom. Additionally, he mentioned a need for energy independence and control on government liabilities.

Lim told the audience he believed in creating jobs by keeping the government from growing too fast and jokingly said, as the only Asian governor, he would get money back from Asian countries which drew great laughter from the crowds.

In their closing statements, the candidates addressed problems with “out of control” government spending.
“We spent 37% more and got nothing,” said Alley.

Dudley said that he is optimistic the problems can be resolved saying, “This mess we’re in is not impossible to fix. If we stand together, we can change the direction.”

Lim finished the evening by pointing out flaws in the other candidates’ voting records and policy positions then calling himself the best candidate for the governor’s race.