Stacey Dycus

Shortly after the May 20 primary, Oregon state Treasurer candidates Allen Alley (R-Lake Oswego) and state Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) talked of their hopes to schedule debates around the Beaver State. First there were five debates. Then the dream grew to 10 debates. Westlund thought it would be great fun to travel to the debates together in the same car. He even invited Bob Eckstrom, the Constitution Party’s state Treasurer nominee, to come along before he dropped out of the race. Both candidates believed that through joint appearances, Oregonians would come and learn the finer nuances of the state Treasurer’s office, they would cast their vote, and the best man would win.

Two Oregonian political strategists took a trip to Santa Monica the other week, and when they returned, their bags were just a bit heavier.

OneSource Strategies, the partnership of Stacey Dycus and Michael Selvaggio, won two Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants.

Sources to the Inside Edge report that congressional candidate Kurt Schrader recently hired Paul Gage, the former chief campaigner for the Senate Democrats in 2006. Gage, currently a principal with Ken Snyder Communications in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, will be heading back to Oregon to manage the Schrader primary campaign for the fifth congressional district. It's not clear whether he will remain with his firm while working for Schrader.

Last week The Oregonian ran an editorial backing a move that would make the Secretary of State a non-partisan position, citing the erosion in public confidence prompted by the 2000 recount fiasco in Florida, in which then Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a known Bush ally, was at the core of the election results, as well as Ohio in 2004, when the Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, also served as an honorary co-chair of the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign.

Blackwell’s dual role prompted a number of lawsuits and allegations of voter disenfranchisement, and since then, several states have considered making the position of chief election officer non-partisan, as some areas have seen an increase in partisanship as both Republicans and Democrats hope to gain an advantage.