Erickson caught with more exaggerations on the truth

Steve Mayes reports a must-read story in the Sunday Oregonian on more creative stories by fifth district congressional candidate Mike Erickson regarding his alleged 2004 "humanitarian" trip to Cuba.   The story takes a closer look at Erickson's trip to the communist state and talks to Robert Walz, who attended the trip with Erickson and claims there was more of a vacation purpose for the Cuban excursion as opposed to Erickson's altruistic account of giving aid to those in need.

This is not the first time Erickson has been caught exaggerating his recollection of past occurrences.  In his May primary battle against Republican Kevin Mannix Erickson was accused of lying about encouraging an ex-girlfriend to obtain an abortion years ago and then proclaiming a pro-life political stance in his two races for Congress.

It would appear to many that the race for Oregon's fifth congressional district is over and Democratic nominee Kurt Schrader has things wrapped up.  However, Democrats are saying Schrader is taking nothing for granted in his general election race, given that Erickson has proven he is willing to spend whatever remains of his personal fortune to win a seat in Congress.  Schrader is raising money from both local and national sources, he refuses to attend the Democratic convention this month and has help already lined up from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for this fall's television line-up. 

Our crystal ball tells us, absent a miracle, things don't look good for Erickson.