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Not everyone’s behind Erickson
The day after Mike Erickson won the 5th Congressional District Republican nomination, members of his own party fretted that he may be too politically damaged to retake a seat once thought to lean to the GOP.

Erickson emerged victorious after a bitter fight against rival Kevin Mannix, who made the bombshell accusation last week that Erickson had paid for a girlfriend's abortion.

Erickson denied the charge, but it has carried enough credibility that he now faces a major loss of support from his party.

The state's most powerful Republican, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, said through a spokesman that he won't endorse Erickson in the fall campaign against the Democratic nominee, state Sen. Kurt Schrader of Canby. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, Oregon's only GOP House member, did not respond when asked if he would endorse Erickson. Through a spokesman, Walden said only, "For now, he's the nominee."

Oregon Right to Life, a powerful force in Republican politics, said it expects to sit out the race. Mannix said he won't back Erickson because he believes Erickson is dishonest. Among many Republican strategists, a rough consensus is forming that Erickson can't win in the fall. (Jeff Mapes and Steve Mayes, The Oregonian)

Portland power shift
A radical overhaul of the balance of power at Portland’s City Hall was not on the May ballot.

That, however, is exactly what voters achieved.

Only two faces on the new City Council will be new — Nick Fish and either Amanda Fritz or Charles Lewis, depending on who wins the November runoff election.

Nevertheless, when the votes were tallied election night, the results forecast a completely new dynamic on the council.

Arguably the most significant change in City Hall came with the race to succeed Commissioner Erik Sten, who resigned in April to explore life in the private sector. In that race, Fish, a labor lawyer, handily defeated Sten’s former chief of staff, Jim Middaugh, who’d been running with Sten’s support and with a strong commitment to preserve Sten’s broad legacy. (Jim Redden and Nick Budnick, Portland Tribune)

Superdelegates plot strategy
Oregon's seven uncommitted superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention are still not ready to announce who they will support for the party's presidential nomination.

Several of the superdelegates held an informal conference today to discuss their next step. They said the outcome of Tuesday's Oregon primary, won decisively by Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, would be a major consideration in guiding their decisions.

"That's a very important factor for me," said state party Chairwoman Meredith Wood Smith. "It will weigh heavily on my decision."

"We said we didn't want to get ahead of Oregon voters and Oregon voters have made their decision," said Frank Dixon, vice chairman of the party.

Superdelegates are governors, members of Congress and high ranking party officials who are not bound by the outcomes of caucuses or primaries in their states. Before Tuesday's voting, three Oregon superdelegates -- Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and David Wu -- announced their support for Obama. Two others -- Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Rep. Darlene Hooley -- endorsed Obama's only remaining rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. (Edward Walsh, The Oregonian)

Getting an early start
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was really banking on a Jeff Merkley win last night. It had already commissioned a poll before the primary election, pitting the DSCC's handpicked candidate against the incumbent, Republican Sen. Gordon Smith.

The primary did go Sen. Chuck Schumer's way, with Merkley beating Steve Novick, and the poll of 800 likely voters taken by the Feldman Group was distributed to the media today.

The poll pitted Merkley in a match-up against Smith. While Smith lead, 45 to 42 percent, it was within the poll's 3.5 percent margin of error. The poll also found Smith's job approval rating to be at 29 percent. (Lauren Lafaro, PolitickerOR.com)

Portland didn’t notice
Portland attracted national attention last night by becoming the largest city in the country to elect an openly gay mayor. (Rob Manning, Oregon Public Broadcasting)

Is there an AG race after all?
Oregon Republicans couldn’t find anyone to run for Attorney General this year. But it turns out that Democratic nominee John Kroger might have a challenger in November after all. (Chris Lehman, Oregon Public Broadcasting)

With the PolitickerOR.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Oregon's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.