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 last census created a new congressional district in Oregon.  For now, that’s all we know.

Why?

The new district, without a well-financed incumbent, has drawn a mad rush of candidates.  Sixteen in all.

So, the votes in the primary and general elections, especially on the Democrat side, will be spread among so many candidates that there is no way to peg favorites.

Here is the way the Oregonian newspaper summarized the status:

“It’s been four decades since Oregon had a congressional race quite like this one:  A brand new seat, fresh for the taking.

“With 16 entrants, the primary races to represent Oregon’s newly created 6th District have attracted more candidates than those for any other seat in the state.  In fact, there are more people running in the 6th than in the Portland area’s three other U.S. House seats combined.”

Awarded to Oregon during the re-apportionment process that followed the 2020 census, the 6th District stretches from the southwest Portland suburbs to farming communities in Yamhill and Polk Counties.  The eastern border parallels Interstate 5 south to Salem and pulls in Willamette Valley towns such as Woodburn and Keizer.

It includes the state Capitol, where three members of the Legislature each hope the new congressional district will allow them to reach to become legislators in Washington, D.C.

At 1,900 square miles, the 6th District is the second-smallest in the state in physical size.  And while the redistricting process created districts with very nearly the same populations, the 6th has the fewest number of registered voters, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office.

More than 40 per cent of those 466,183 voters are neither Democrat nor Republican, and, thus, won’t have a say in the May primary.  Of the rest, Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 26,000.

For me, a basic question is why anyone would want to win. 

That’s because the reality is that the winner will have to find a new home in D.C., plus get on a plane twice a month to make it back to Oregon.  And, once that person lands in Portland, he or she would have to drive around the district to meet voters.

Plus, in D.C., the winner would be a back-bencher in a U.S. House led either by Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, the latter of whom navigates every day to build a resume for the top job.

See!  Quite a plum job as a new Member of Congress.

Two potential leaders in the 6^th District sweepstakes are Democrats Teresa Alonso Leon and Andrea Salinas, both of whom served in the Legislature.  If elected, either would be Oregon’s first Latina member of Congress.

Another candidate, Dr. Kathleen Harder, adds an element of local interest in the race for me and others who live in Salem. 

A primary care physician, Harder also serves on the Oregon Medical Board.  She is a neighbor of mine where our friendship has been cemented by our joint interest in politics at both local and national levels.

She said her focus is “ensuring quality, affordable health care for everyone, expanding access to mental health providers, tackling homelessness, working for stable and affordable housing, and addressing the climate crisis.”

She will be a long-shot to prevail in the heavily-contested primary, but I admire her willingness to give it a try.

On the Republican side, the leading candidate appears to be state Representative Ron Noble of McMinnville, the city’s retired police chief who is finishing up his third term in the Oregon House.

As an independent, I don’t get to vote in the primary.  But, as a political junkie, I’ll be paying attention to who emerges from this crowded field and the likelihood is that winner, if a D, would go on to take the general election. 

Don’t tell Ron Noble I said that.