This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The latest on-line edition of Global Golf Post heralds a new day for Muirfield, one of Scotland’s great, old golf courses.

Why?

The Honourable Company of Muirfield golfers (yes, that’s the way you spell “honourable” in Scotland) reached a momentous decision in 2017:  After 275 ears of being a “men only” club, women were admitted, a total of 12 of them whose membership finally was effective as of last July 1.

Too late, you might say.  A long time coming, you might say.  Not so “honourable” you might also add.

I agree.

But the fact is that Muirfield eventually made the right decision and it will be a good one for the game of golf in Scotland, which is known as the “home of golf,” but don’t tell golfers in the Netherlands who believe the game started in their country.

One of the reasons for the Muirfield decision was that the men-only policy had meant the course could no longer be in the rotation of Scottish courses to host “The Open.”  Which, in fact, is what we in America call the “British Open,” though Scots and Brits stoutly prefer “The Open” and glance sideways at you if have the temerity to add the word British to the title.

All of this conjures memories for me.

It was about 20 years ago when son Eric, after playing well in the U.S. Mid-Amateur in Connecticut, made it into the field for the British Mid-Amateur.  The site was Muirfield.

My wife, Nancy, Eric’s wife, Holly, and I made the trip to Scotland with Eric for the wonderful experience of being in that country, the homeland of my wife’s parents.  And, yes, the major reason was the golf tournament.

Muirfield, back in the 1980s, was the original #1 golf course, as ranked by Golf Magazine in its inaugural listings.  The roster of Muirfield Open Champions attests to the greatness of this Scottish links, with names such as Cotton, Player, Nicklaus, Watson, Faldo, Els, and Mickelson.

The Muirfield course is revered by pros and amateurs alike because of its straightforward challenge.  Each hole at Muirfield is unique and difficult, but with no hidden hazards and only one blind shot.

It also is one of the oldest clubs in the world, dating from its first beginnings in Leith in 1744 to its later move to Musselburgh, and finally in 1891 to Muirfield in East Lothian.

Now, back to Eric’s tournament there.  He played well, missing the two-round cut by only a stroke.  He had a Scottish caddy and, when that caddy talked to other Scots, you could not understand a word because of the deep the Scottish brogue.  When the caddy talked with Eric, however, he changed his inflection so he was understandable.

Eric’s tournament occurred long before Muirfield made the rational decision to admit women.  But, given that the British Mid-Amateur would host families of players, including women, the club had no choice but to allow women on the premises for that tournament, even though women were not normally allowed inside the front gate.

It was the beginning of the end for “men only.”

And, for the club’s “old guys,” the change was quite a reach.

Wife Nancy loves to tell story of one old guy when she sat near him in one of the traditional long tables in the clubhouse restaurant.  Both were having a meal.  Beyond her very presence, the old guy was even more flustered when Nancy told him that her father grew up in very poor part of Glasgow and, in the normal flow of life, would never have set foot on the Muirfield grounds.  Yet, here was his daughter…in person.

Overall, Nancy and Holly were free to find her way around the course and – even – into the clubhouse.

The “old guy” players at Muirfield used to play a distinctive style that may not ully have survived to this day.  They would show up at the course in dress clothes and then change into golf attire for a morning round.  It would always be “foursomes,” which means alternate shot.

After the morning round, they would head to the clubhouse, change back into formal attire for lunch.  And, then guess what?  Back to the locker room to change for an afternoon round, their second of the day.

Strange, but fond, memories of Muirfield.

From what I saw as a spectator, it was – and still is – a great course.  Today, men and women play it as equals, at least in theory.  It may take some time for the equality to emerge.

And, as I write this, I also note that a course in La Quinta, The Plantation, still only tolerates me.  I will admit to having played there only a couple time and, in the parking lot, that was as far as my wife could go.  She had to drop me and head away.

To put it bluntly, I would never join The Plantation and I suspect it will be only a matter of time before the course will have to give up its unfortunate style.

For now, though, I prefer to focus on the “new Muirfield.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

When a major new law passes in Congress, it often is difficult to grasp what will happen in Oregon, if anything.

Well, this time around, with passage of the major infrastructure bill, there will be huge benefits for Oregon.  That is, benefits if you favor new roads, bridges, rail service, Internet connections, and other investments.

This week, colleagues in my old firm, now called CFM Advocates, wrote a blog listing benefits for Oregon.  Rather than set out to write something myself, I choose to reprint excerpts from what CFM wrote.  [I add that the Congressional bill includes allocation for “climate change” and for bringing Internet connections to households not yet connected.  It’s too early to suggest if and, if so how, such allocations would affect Oregon.]

**********

$3.4 billion highway formula funding would mainly come through these programs: 

+  National Highway Performance Program is the largest of the federal-aid highway programs.  It supports improvement of the condition and performance of the National Highway System, which includes Interstate System highways and bridges, as well as virtually all other major highways.

+  Surface Transportation Block Grant Program is the federal-aid highway program with the broadest eligibility criteria.  Funds can be used on any federal-aid highway, on bridge projects on any public road, on transit capital projects, on routes for non-motorized transportation, on bridge and tunnel inspection. 

+  Highway Safety Improvement Program supports projects that improve the safety of road infrastructure by correcting hazardous road locations, such as dangerous intersections, or making road improvements, such as adding striping.

+  Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program was established to fund projects and programs that may reduce emissions of transportation-related pollutants. 

+  National Highway Freight Program helps states remove impediments to the movement of goods.  Section 1116 requires the feds to establish the National Highway Freight Network, which is made up of the primary highway freight system, critical rural freight corridors, critical urban freight corridors ,and any Interstate System highways not so designated. 

The $268 million for bridge replacement and repair would come through the following: 

+  Bridge Formula Program – The bill appropriates $27.5 billion for a new bridge formula program to provide funding to Statesand Tribal governments to repair and rebuild bridges in poor condition.  

The $747 million in public transportation dollars would mainly come through these programs: 

+  Urbanized Area Formula Program provides funding for public transportation in urbanized areas.

+  State of Good Repair Grant Program provides funding primarily for repairing and upgrading rail transit systems, but also other fixed-guideway systems (such as passenger ferries and bus rapid transit) ,and bus systems that use high-occupancy-vehicle lanes. 

+  Rural Area Formula Program provides funding to states and Indian tribes for public transportation outside of urbanized areas. 

+  Bus and Bus Facilities Grant Program provides funding for capital expenses to purchase and rehabilitate buses and to construct bus-related facilities, such as maintenance depots.  

**********

You get the picture.

As I said earlier, there is a lot to like in the new bill if you favor improvements to roads, bridges, and rail.

Plus, an added benefit is a lot of new construction jobs in Oregon that come along with the investments, which makes the new bill a boon for the country.

Two additional thoughts crossed my mind as I read my colleagues’ blog”

• Will there be enough money to fund the proposed new bridge between Portland and Vancouver, Washington?  Not clear, but parties on both sides of the river appear to have been moving toward agreement on the design of a new bridge.  Thus, possible funding.

• Will there be enough money to fund the needed third bridge from Salem to West Salem and Polk County?  It would be a welcome development if such money could be found for the new bridge, but, first, that would require political leaders in the region to do what they have not done so far – which is to establish a site for and design of a new bridge.  Thus, probably a long shot for funding.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If you are a political junkie like me, there often are more reasons for pessimism than optimism about the future of the country.

One of the reasons is that one Donald Trump continues to fulminate about the election President Joe Biden stole from him, as well as suggesting that he, Trump, intends to run for president again in 2024.

But, fulminating is what Trump does.

Then, on Sunday morning, I read a column by Paul Waldman, a columnist who writes for the Washington Post.  It appeared under this headline:

ARE THINGS ABOUT TO GET BETTER? INCREDIBLY, NEW SIGNS SUGGEST THE ANSWER IS YES.

Here is how Waldman started his column:

“Even as Democrats engage in a vigorous round of breast-beating, recrimination and self-flagellation after their predictably poor showing in Tuesday’s elections, there’s one thing they can agree on:  Everything is awful.

“We’re still limping through the coronavirus pandemic, almost two years on.  President Biden’s approval ratings are weak.  Congress is mired in the unsatisfying slog of legislating.”

Then, Waldman, who has been, he says, “relentlessly pessimistic for the last five years or so,” turns optimistic.

“What if things are about to turn around?” he asks.  “For Democrats, but mostly for the country?  What if this is the moment we’ll look back on as a real inflection point?”

Waldman points to several factors that could yield optimism.

• First, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly jobs report for October, showing that the economy created 531,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 per cent.  In addition, previous months’ numbers were revised based on more complete data:  The BLS reports that there were 235,000 more jobs created in August and September than had previously been reported.
• Developments on the pandemic front also look promising.  While over a thousand Americans a day are still dying from covid, the vast majority of them unvaccinated, the numbers are heading in the right direction:  New infections are occurring at less than half the rate they were two months ago.
• Meanwhile, Pfizer has announced that a newly developed therapy to be taken early in the onset of covid was shown in a study to reduce hospitalizations by 89 per cent; none of the people taking the drug in the study died.  The therapy is a set of pills patients take at home, making it easy to administer. If it turns out to be as effective as it appears, the result could be a dramatic reduction in deaths.
• Congress enacted “an enormously important” measure when it passed the infrastructure bill.  And, Waldman contended, the “Build Back Better bill” could have demonstrable positive effects on the country and individual Americans’ lives.

For Waldman, putting all of this together “makes it seem like the sun may be emerging from the clouds.”

To be sure, he says, “there are reasons for pessimism, such as the Republican Party showing again the eternal power of the ‘White backlash.’ Democracy is imperiled in much of our country. The Supreme Court is yanking our laws to the right.  We continue to suffer from historic levels of inequality.  Climate change threatens a miserable future for all of us.  Donald Trump is probably going to run for president again.”

But, despite the list in the last paragraph, Waldman advocates optimism.

I do, too, for I prefer to try to find the bright side even when it is easier to focus on the negative.  It never hurts to hope.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A win for the ages occurred this weekend when the U.S. House passed the major infrastructure funding bill.

It now goes to President Joseph Biden who will sign it with at least a bit of pomp and circumstance.

Here’s the way the Washington Post heralded the result:

“Less than 10 months after taking office and several days after his party suffered a stinging defeat in the Virginia governor’s race, President Biden achieved one of his main goals:  A bi-partisan agreement that would make major investments in all 50 states for years to come.

“Shortly before midnight on Friday, as the House passed the bill 228-206 with the backing of more than 10 Republicans, Biden’s slumping political fortunes appeared to suddenly change.  After seeing his poll numbers slide for weeks, he had suddenly fulfilled a core campaign promise and notched a significant victory after months of legislative gridlock.

“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that we took a monumental step forward as a nation,” Biden said Saturday morning at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris. “We did something long overdue, that has long been talked about in Washington, but never actually done.”

But, to go with the headline on this blog, many Republicans – not the 13 members of the U.S. House who voted for it, but other flamethrowers like Representative Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, not to mention Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy – yelled and screamed about how mad they were that their party had a role in giving the Biden Administration a legislative victory.

Or, perhaps a political victory that will lift polling on Biden’s performance as president.

Again, from the Post:

“The bill included lots of popular projects and, in another era, probably would’ve gotten significantly more GOP votes.  But we live in this era, in which delivering a political win for the other side — however popular the bill and however much your constituents might want it — is seen as apostasy.  The demand in the GOP for such devotion to the party line and its election prospects is even greater than on the other side.”

That’s what I mean by grabbing a sense of defeat from the jaws of victory.

Smart Republicans should have heralded the achievement – more and better infrastructure for this country (roads, bridges, rail lines), including for their own districts – instead of griping about a victory for Biden.

All of this is a measure for me about how far our democracy has fallen into disrepute.  There is not even enough room to declare victory, and, then, move on to the next battle.

On that score, there is little doubt be that “next battle” will be fought over a second, larger bill — the $1.85 trillion social welfare and climate change legislation.  A potential deal for Democrats finally materialized late last week when the Congressional Black Caucus proposed passing the infrastructure bill immediately and holding a separate vote on the social bill in mid-November.

You can bet the second vote will be even more acrimonious that the first one.

And, voting on such an expansion of social programs will test both Democrats and Republican, if only because the bill represents a huge expansion of government.  So, in that sense, there will not rank with the potential popularity of infrastructure.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

It won’t surprise my friends to know that I like words.

More than numbers.  More than charts.  More than graphs. 

Each of those has its place, but, for me, I need words to explain the numbers, charts, and graphs, if not to replace them.  Though one of my business partners would contend, perhaps with some rationale, that numbers, charts and graphs sometimes tell a story better than words.

Regarding the general subject of words, one I don’t like these days is “progressive.”

It is used by many of those involved in politics to describe what they consider to be useful proposals from the left, sometimes the far left.

To me, better word would be liberal.

Now, some might as, why I would write about this.  Well, a couple answers. 

First, I don’t much else to do in retirement, so I spend time thinking about such inconsequential issues.  Second, I am a political junkie, so, for me, words used in politics always spark an interest in me.  Words such as “progressive.”

The dictionary defines the word this way:  “A person advocating or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas.”

I am not contending that those who use the word are wrong.  They are using the word accurately on the basis of its definition.  It’s just that, for me, the word connotes progress and, sometimes, the best form of progress is to avoid doing something, not to adopt a liberal, left-leaning agenda that almost always calls for more government action.

One of the partners in my old firm, now called CFM Advocates, wrote a piece earlier this week indicating that Oregon’s Fifth District Congressman Kurt Schrader likely would face an election challenge from the left, just as he did two years ago.

The headline on the piece was this:  “Congressman Kurt Schrader Certain to Face Progressive Challenger.”

I beg to differ because the word “progressive” in this headline carries the connotation that Representative Schrader does not support progress.  I know him well, having lobbied him in Salem for several years before he moved to Congress – and he is in favor of progress. 

His definition of progress just differs from what those on the left, sometimes the far-left, favor.  He wants middle ground solutions, which is often where the best public policy solutions lie anyway.  For that reason, he has raised questions about the move in Congress to enact a major new government social and climate change program.

His concern is not with the goals; his concern is with the high price tag.  So, a “progressive” is reported to be running against him because he has not toed the left-leaning line.

Words matter because I want to search for the best ones, not always successfully, I admit, but the search matters.

In politics, “progressive” is not always the best word.  So, I, for one, won’t be using it in the same way it is often used these days. 

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Daniel Henninger says election results in the country yesterday illustrate at least one thing:  Voters are tiring of the far left and are heading back to the right.

So, who is Daniel Henninger?

He is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and also serves as deputy editor of the Journal’s editorial page.

I like the way he writes, but, in this case and some others, Henninger comes too quick to easy conclusions.  He contends Democrats are doomed and Republicans are on the rise.  But his conclusion is based essentially on what happened in two states on the East Coast – Virginia and New Jersey. 

For me, no nationwide thrust there.

Henninger is not alone in trying to come up with election conclusions only a day or so after the results.

This from the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal, which I guess Henninger could have written:

“Democrats were reeling Wednesday from an election that repudiated the progressive agenda nationwide.  They now have a chance to pull out of their tailspin to avert another disaster in 2022, but the early response suggests they might prefer another crash landing.”

Democrats are not known as an organized political party, so it would not be surprising to see them produce “another crash landing.”  But, before pronouncing that as inevitable, better to provide some time for reflection.

One-day-after conclusions are too much and too quick for me.  Without suggesting that I am the equal of Henninger and his prognosticating colleagues, I prefer to let the dust settle just a bit.

Here’s why.

• I hope the Democrats will take stock of what happened in the two states and decide what it means for the next round of elections, the mid-terms.  But I will give them a few weeks to assess results instead of reacting after only a few hours.
• I hope the Republicans will do the same.
• I hope Henninger is right when he posits that far left – those on the left like to call themselves “progressive,” but I dislike the term because they don’t often support what it means to “progress “– lost ground this week.  It could only be the start of a shift away from looney ideas of the sort promoted by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The headline on Henninger’s piece was this:  “The progressives’ disastrous overreach fosters an emerging Republican coalition.”

Well, to use a hackneyed phrase, only time will tell.

• I hope one Donald Trump gains no solace from the election.  Here’s how hill.com described the way Republican Glen Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia.  “The blueprint doesn’t require repudiating the former president — but it doesn’t require kissing Trump’s ring, either.”
• I reason that election results on the East Coast don’t say much about what will happen in Oregon.  Here, Democrats control the political agenda, the Oregon Legislature and all statewide elected offices.  They are likely to retain that control.

How about this from polly-anna, me? 

Why not consider election results as a call to move toward the center?  Why not ask Democrats to discard their usual instincts for more government?  Why not ask Republicans to arrive at decisions about what might help their constituents, instead of just coming with more “no” answers?

And, why not hope Americans – yes, Americans who vote – will support candidates who hew toward the center where the best solutions lie and not the extremes of the far right or the far left?

Too much to ask?  Probably.  But I hold out hope anyway.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If you needed any more grist for the mill of what you know to be Trump stupidity, you got more from Georgia this week.

There, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, in a new book, detailed former president Trump’s stupidity in a long and rambling phone call early last year as he, Trump, ticked off a host of debunked and fanciful conspiracy theories he blamed for his electoral defeat. 

Hill.com wrote about this in a story under this headline:

Georgia secretary of state:  Trump “had no idea how elections work”

The story started this way:

“Former President Trump demonstrated virtually no knowledge of the conduct of modern elections procedures in a long and rambling phone call with Georgia’s top elections administrator as he ticked off a host of debunked and fanciful conspiracy theories he blamed for his electoral defeat. 

“The man on the other end of that call in early January, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, details months of mistruths and disinformation perpetuated by the Trump campaign.”

The new book that recounts this is called “Integrity Counts,” which by those very words would exclude Trump. 

In the book, there is a roughly 40-page transcript of the call itself, which shows an increasingly agitated Trump grasping at allegations that Raffensperger and his top deputy systematically refute as then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows pleaded with the Georgia officials to investigate further and Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to deliver the state’s electoral votes.

Here are examples of how Raffensperger described Trump:

• “Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.  Give me a break.”  “This repeated request for votes,” Raffensperger said,“ showed me that Trump really had no idea how elections work.  The secretary of state’s office doesn’t allocate any votes.”
• “At the time of the call in January, I didn’t know if he believed what he was saying.  I didn’t know if he was trying to push a narrative, or was he just believing stuff that was fed to him.  As a conservative-with-a-capital-C Republican, I’m disappointed like everyone else is. But the cold hard facts are that Trump did come up short in the state of Georgia.” 
• Trump said he had been told that ballots had been cast in the names of as many as 5,000 dead people; Raffensperger’s post-election audit found two people had voted in the names of dead relatives.  Trump alleged 4,925 voters who lived in other states had cast ballots in Georgia; Raffensperger found 300 out-of-state voters. Trump accused Fulton County officials of shredding thousands of ballots; Raffensperger counters that officials in Cobb County shredded blank envelopes, and no ballots. 

“We are a nation of laws; we believe in the rule of law. We have a constitution. We have state laws, we have federal laws,” Raffensperger said.  

Raffensperger, who is up for re-election next year, remains a target for Trump and his acolytes.  

In the hill.com article, Raffensperger declined to say whether he believes Trump is morally fit to be president.

I won’t decline.

He is not morally fit for the nation’s top political job.  Lying is second nature to him.  He rallies folks to believe he is like a god, if not a god, and, thus, deserves to be re-elected, even if it takes violence to achieve that goal.

Perish that prospect as this country heads toward 2024.

NOTE:  At one point after Trump lost the presidential election, I vowed that I would not write again about the buffoon.  Well, I am not keeping that vow; I cannot as Trump heads toward trying to be president again.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

To say I am not an expert on the nation’s national pastime – baseball – is an understatement. 

I often don’t watch games until the end of a season, including the World Series.

Still, a column in the Wall Street Journal this morning caught my attention.  By Jason Gay, it appeared under this headline:

Oh Great, Another Cranky Column About Baseball Games Taking Too Long

The headline was referencing Gay’s column.  He has a way with words as he writes about sports for the Journal, often in a satirical style, with a dose of humor thrown in.

Here is the way he started his column:

“Finally, some good news:  Reading this lousy sports column will take 3 hours and 57 or so minutes less time than Sunday’s Game 5 of the World Series.

“That game lasted the routine nine innings. And took a whopping four hours. 

“Now granted, this column is probably about 1/200th as interesting as watching the Astros and Braves play nine. 

“Still, the point remains:

“Baseball’s gotta speed it up.”

I agree.

But, you say, you are a golfer and, so, you know about slow pace-of-play issues. 

Yes.  Golf needs to speed up, too.

In La Quinta, California, where I have the good fortune to play golf in the winter, I play at a course called The Palms.  There, whenever you play, you are given 3 hours and 30 minutes to play 18 holes.  Yes, 3-30!

It works and the play is often more fun because you proceed purposefully.  No need to run.  Just focus on playing.

In his column, Gay adds points worth considering about slow baseball, points including these exaggerations, a brand of Gay’s humor:

• Do you know the slowpoke NFL started and finished an entire Sunday night football contest — Dallas defeated Minnesota — before baseball wrapped it up?
• Did you know Fox announcers Joe Buck and John Smoltz began Game 5 clean shaven and had full speakeasy bartender beards by the end of game?  Do you know A-Rod celebrated two birthdays, and bought and sold and re-bought the T-Wolves?
• The culprit here, largely, is all the pitching changes, abetted by a significant strategic shift:  Starting pitching, as we knew it, is increasingly kaput. 
• To keep a hurler in is to make an opponent comfortable, and chance disaster.  That’s why you get Atlanta’s Ian Anderson pulled while carrying five innings of no-hit ball.
• There’s a longer, fascinating existential conversation here, about baseball’s focus on analytics and efficiency and what it’s done to the game — how pitching by committee and the defensive shifts and the all-or-nothing “launch angle” approach at the plate have conspired to make a game that is smarter and statistically defensible, but aesthetically grim.
• I’m not a hater. I say this as someone who loves a World Series.  I think it can be an incredibly dramatic and compelling television product —t he way games are produced with all the macro and micro camera angles, zipping from the players in the field to close-ups of panicked fans in the stands to managers looking tense — is magical theater.  It just shouldn’t take longer than getting a Ph.D. 

And, to Gay’s “analysis,” I would add this key point:  If you banned baseball players from spitting, often on television, just think about how much time would be saved.

I once conducted by own analysis of this “spitting problem.”  I won’t take time to share my results here, but I would just say ban it and games would be much shorter.

This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

For Oregon, there is little question but that the race for governor here will be the biggest issue on the upcoming primary election ballot – and the following general election.

Expect a barn-burner of a race – and from me, a long-time Oregon lobbyist, expect a Democrat to emerge victorious as he or she takes office at the start of 2023.

Everything else pales in comparison to the high-profile race that, as usual, will pit Democrats against Republicans, but this year will have a high-profile Independent, as well.

More about the governor’s race later in this blog, including a list of those running.  But, first here is recap of other races and issues.

NO STATEWIDE INITIATIVE MEASURES:  This is atypical for Oregon, a state where advocates can get to the ballot with pet issues if they find a way to get enough voter signatures to do so.  None made it this time around.

LOCAL ISSUES WILL BE ON THE BALLOT, WITH A NOD TO OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING FOR HELP IN COMING UP WITH THE LIST:   Another county in Oregon will vote on the idea of moving Oregon’s border so rural counties can join “Greater Idaho” (see below).

Voters in Cannon Beach and Newport are being asked to approve a sales tax on restaurant and deli food (again see below).

A recurring theme across the Pacific Northwest this election involves aspects of the tight housing market.  County and city councils up and down the West Coast have wrestled with housing supply and affordability for years.

Now, local activists are going to voters in several places to seek stronger action.  One such place is on the central Oregon Coast and another is in Bellingham, Washington.

A coalition called People First Bellingham took inspiration from Portland to place a tenant rights proposition on the November ballot.  The measure would require landlords to provide re-location assistance equal to three- months rent for renters who are forced to move because of large rent increases — defined as anything more than 8 per cent.  

SHORT-TERM VACATION RENTALS TARGETED:  Voters on the central Oregon Coast will also get to weigh in on rental housing, but from a different angle. A group named 15 Neighborhoods collected signatures to put a five-year phase-out of short-term vacation rentals on the November ballot.  It would affect AirBnb and VRBO-type rentals in single-family residential zones of unincorporated Lincoln County.

GREATER IDAHO:  The group Move Oregon’s Border has been collecting signatures in multiple counties to allow more voters to weigh in on nonbinding initiatives to create the expanded state of “Greater Idaho.” Oregon’s sparsely-populated Harney County gets its turn to sound off at the ballot box next week.  Crook and Klamath counties, and possibly others, are in line to vote in spring 2022.

The border relocation idea is driven by conservatives who believe Eastern and Southern Oregon counties would be happier in red Idaho than stuck in blue Oregon. Nine counties have already voted on the Move Oregon’s Border proposal during prior elections, yielding seven victories and two rejections.

PREPARED FOOD TAX:  Oregon has no state sales tax, but diners in the popular beach towns of Cannon Beach and Newport may find one added to their tabs when they eat in restaurants or get takeout beginning next year.  Local voters will decide whether to fund a new city hall and police station in Cannon Beach by imposing a 5 per cent tax on prepared food. The same new tax would be used to hire additional police, fire and library staff in Newport.

Now, back to the Oregon governor’s race.

One of the earliest to file was current Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, who appears to have a good chance to get most of the public employee union money to fund her race. 

Current Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read entered the race and could have a chance to garner votes from the left center of the political spectrum since he is not as far left as most other Democrats.

Two more filings create added interest in the race.

• Democrat State Senator Betsy Johnson filed, but will run as an Independent, which means that she moves directly to the general election, by passing the primary.

• Former New York Times reporter and columnist Nicholas Kristof filed, saying he will return to his Yamhill County home to run, though he will face questions about whether he meets residency requirements and, if the answer is yes, he will face carpet-bagger allegations on the campaign trail.

Six other Democrats have announced or filed to run:

+  Wilson Bright, a retired textile business owner from Portland

+  Peter Hall, a Haines city council member

+  Casey Kulla, a farmer and Yamhill County commissioner from Dayton

+  Dave Lavinsky, a business and strategic advisor from Bend

+  Keisha Merchant, an artist from Albany

+  Michael Trimble, a customer service representative from Portland

A couple other Ds may file, including Multnomah County Commission Chair Deborah Kafoury and State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.

On the Republican side, it is unlikely that any of the announced candidates will pull enough weight to counter the Democrat voter registration and money edges, especially in urban Oregon.  That includes Salem physician Bud Pierce who lost last time around to the current term-limited governor, Kate Brown.  Pierce has a bit of name familiarity, but much of it resides in Marion County, not statewide.

So, count on a Democrat to win the state’s highest political office again.  It has been true since the last Republican governor in Oregon, Vic Atiyeh, who served more than 35 years ago.