Elections '98
Kitzhaber, Wyden declare wins in state races
By David Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Sometimes voters prove political pundits
wrong— not this year.
Gubernatorial and Senate underdogs in
pre-election opinion polls remained under
dogs in polling results Tuesday night.
But oidy 16 percent of the votes were
counted Tuesday evening. According to the
Lane County Board of Elections, 53 percent
of registered voters are voting by absentee
ballots that will not be counted until Friday.
Around the state Tuesday, candidates
tried to end their campaigns with a final
frenzy of campaigning before they attended
pre-and post-election parties.
John Lim, Republican U.S. Senate candi
date, drove through Portland Tuesday to do
some last-minute campaigning.
“Hopefully I can capture a majority,” he
said. “I need a few more votes to win. That’s
what I’m telling people.”
Ron Wyden started his day at 7 a.m. hold
ing campaign signs on the Burnside Bridge
in Portland before urging people to vote in
downtown Portland.
Gov. John Kitzhaber spent his day calling
afternoon radio talk shows encouraging
people to vote.
“He was out all weekend and yesterday
going to different high schools,” said Greg
Peden, Kitzhaber's press secretary.
Bill Sizemore, Kitzhaber’s opponent,
campaigned throughout the state, including
Eugene, on Monday and did interviews
with the media on Tuesday.
“Yesterday was our big day,” said Kathy
Eply, Sizemore’s press secretary.
Even though Sizemore was predicted to
lose the governor’s race by a wide margin,
Eply said Sizemore planned to hold a “vic
tory party" laterTuesday evening.
Senate hopeful Lim planned to have his
post-election party at the downtown Mar
riott in Portland. Kitzhaber and other De
mocrats chose the aptly named Governor
Hotel to host their post-election party.
Going into election day, Lim was pleased
with the way the his U.S. Senate campaign
had been run.
"Well, 1 feel good about this campaign,”
he said. “It was very positive. There was no
mudslinging.”
Sizemore was reported to be unhappy
with the way the gubernatorial campaign
had gone.
"Kitzhaber’s campaign has run on the is
sues, so he has someone else do the mud
slinging,” Eply said.
She referred to the political action com
mittee devoted to opposing Measure 59, a
measure Sizemore placed on the ballot.
The 16 percent of the ballots counted Tues
day night—as opinion polls in The Oregon
ian predicted earlier this month — came out
in favor of the incumbent Democrats.
Kitzhaber led with 67 percent of the vote,
and Sizemore had 24 percent. Wyden led
the U.S. Senate race by 60 percent in com
parison to Lim’s 30 percent.
In an concession speech, Sizemore said
he was in a good mood.
‘‘No, I don't feel down; I'm upbeat,” he
said. “I’m excited about the prospects for the
Future. I can put ballot measures on the bal
lot if I’m governor, and I can put measures
on the ballot ifl’m not.”
In an interview with a group of TV sta
tions, Kitzhaber said he was happy his cam
paign ran on the issues.
Wyden was more passionate than
Kitzhaber.
“You’ve given me the chance to listen to
you and to pledge to you,” he said. "And
tonight. I’m going to take your common
sense solutions to the capitol.”
Lim was unable to be contacted.
However, in an interview before the elec
tion results came out Tuesday night he said
he looked forward to his post-election party.
"When we win, we will celebrate, and
when we lose, we will celebrate,” he said.
Politicians share good luck charms on election night
By Nicole Garton
Oregon Daily Emerald
For Peter DeFazio, it’s a pearl.
Mayor Jim Torrey had black and
yellow jelly beans. And Vicki
Walker’s is a pair of bright yel
low galoshes.
Good luck charms may not
take the place of months of hard
campaigning, but when the bal
lots start rolling in on election
night at the Lane County Fair
grounds, every little bit helps.
Clusters of red, white and blue
balloons bob above campaign
signs and floral arrangements as
politicians and their supporters
help themselves to meat platters,
potato chips and handfuls of
popcorn. Confetti speckles some
tables, and others display cam
paign stickers.
State representative candidate
Vicki Walker’s table sports a pair
of waterproof yellow shoes.
“I’m not sure what they’re for,
but people have seen them be
fore," says Holly Young, a senior
at South Eugene High School
and supporter of Walker. "I guess
it’s a symbolic Vicki thing.”
Minutes later, the mystery is
solved as Walker arrives, beam
ing at preliminary election re
sults that indicate an impending
victory.
“They’re my trademark, my
walking shoes,” she explains.
Walker began door-knocking
last January, when it was cold
and wet — “you know, Oregon
rain,” she says — and she want
ed a pair of shoes that would
keep her feet dry.
Bright yellow was the obvious
choice.
“I needed some shoes that
would be bright enough so peo
ple would see me and I wouldn’t
get hit by a car. Besides, yellow
just reflects the tenor of Oregon,”
she says.
Walker believes the shoes
have literally helped her to win
because of their association with
the University. “When I wear
them with my long, green coat, 1
get a lot of thumbs up and, ‘Go
Ducks,”’ she recalls.
Torrey agrees that yellow is a
great campaign color; after all, he
was the first to use black and yel
low together in his mayoral cam
paign two years ago, he says. He
chose the colors because they
were highly visible from a dis
tance on lawn signs.
His campaign pride and joy
was the huge bowl of black and
yellow jelly beans he offered at
his table on election night.
“If you visit my office, you can
i_dMtiMSm_III J
Uiura Goss/Ememld
State representative candidate Vicki Walk
er's yellow walking galoshes grace her
table on election night.
still see black and yellow jelly
beans there,” he says — not the
originals, of course. Those went
so quickly he had to send people
out for more halfway through the
night. “I’ve probably spent close
to $100 on jelly beans.”
Finding the yellow ones was
tricky. He bought some at Gate
way Mall, but they were pop
corn-flavored.
“Those were the most ungodly
tasting things you can imagine,”
he recalls. “But then we replaced
them with lemon, and it was
okay.”
Looking at a wall hung with
various campaign signs, Torrey
sees many candidates following
the yellow path he blazed, many
of them combining the color
with blue or black.
“You don’t see a lot of black
and yellow jelly beans here, but
you do see a lot of yellow signs,”
he notes.
Torrey and Walker may display
their yellow trademarks for all to
see, but some candidates prefer to
keep their good luck charms hid
den. Incumbent Congressional
candidate Peter DeFazio, for ex
ample, has carried a pearl with
him ever since a visit to Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.
“I was told once by a blind for
tune teller that I should keep a
pearl with me, that it would be
good luck," he says. He also wears
a Chinese dragon medallion.
Regardless of whether they
havegood luckcharmstocomfort
them, however, candidates
munch and mingle on election
night, some excited at promising
preliminaries, some disappointed
at probable defeats and others
hopeful that the tides may change.
Torrey is impressed by the
event’s turnout.
“Since absentee votes have
been so important in past elec
tions, usually this is pretty low
key. The real decision comes on
Friday. To have all these people
here — it’s exciting,” he says.
To City Councilman Bobby
Lee and to many of the candi
dates, the evening represents the
culmination of months of light
sleep and heavy campaigning.
Win or lose, election night
means an end to the campaign
process — at least for now.
“Most politicians don't have a
social life, so this one night of the
year is our time to get together
and have fun. People work as
one big family for one time of the
year,” he explains.
“Some people have been cam
paigning for over a year. That
takes an enormous amount of
time and energy, and to have that
come to an end, whether you
win or lose, it’s a celebration.”
Torrey isn’t surprised. “People
run hard here, but when the cam
paign is over, they all work to
gether,” he says.
And on this night, the candi
dates can sit back, relax a little
and let their good luck charms
take over.
City and state measures yield close results; 20-06 within 1 percent
By Felicity Ayles and David Ryan
Oregon Dally EmeM
Some of the most complex is
sues voters poured over on Elec
tion Day produced the most dra
matic results.
Both city and state measures
had close results Tuesday.
Proponents for City of Eugene
measure 20-02 said they were
“cautiously optimistic” early
Tuesday evening. The measure
would provide hinds for a new
Eugene Public Library and was
passing with 72 percent of the
vote late Tuesday evening.
“We’ve never been this far
ahead,” said Bill Sullivan, co
chair of Library NOW, the organi
zation in favor of the measure.
“It's looking extremely opti
mistic.”
Sullivan also noted that if the
measure p&sses, it could be bene
A /Irn/inn /"W/. . _l-J
ficial to University students.
“This library could be a tremen
dous asset to students,” he said.
“At times, there are more books
checked out by students at the Eu
gene library than the Knight li
brary."
At the public library, all books
are available for check-out and
there are many books that cannot
be found at the Knight library, he
said.
Sullivan said he hoped stu
dents would vote on the measure
because it has failed twice before
by only a small margin.
“We would have had a library
four years ago if the students had
voted,” he said. “Just the under
vote in that one precinct would
have done it.”
City of Eugene measure 20-03
would provide funds to purchase
more parklands. This measure
also ran unopposed, and propo
nents said they were “optimistic
but guarded” about its success.
The main opposition to the
measure was that people didn’t
want to spend the money, said
Steve Johnson, spokesman for
Parks for All of Us, an organiza
tion that supports the measure.
Johnson said if the measure
passes, University students could
benefit.
“A lot of students use the Ama
zon Pool and the Rdgeline Trail,”
he said.
But, he said, students don’t
tend to vote very heavily. Howev
er, measure 20-03 was passing
with 75 percent of the vote late
Tuesday night.
Among the state ballot mea
sures the most politically heated
was measure 59. Proponents of
the measure sued opponents over
an ad campaign a judge deemed
had false information.
Results as of midnight Tuesday
Other local measures included
Measure 20-04, the measure that
would place an American flag on
the top of Skinner Butte. Measure
20-04 was failing with 46 percent
of the vote.
Local measure 20-99, which
implements a citizen’s review
board of police actions, was pass
ing with 58 percent of the vote.
Twin measures 20-05 and 20
06, dealing with improvements to
the Lane County justice system
were very close. Measure 20-05
was passing with 52 percent of
the vote, and measure 20-06 was
failing with 49.9 percent of the
vote.
State measure 54 was passing
with 59 percent of the vote.
Measure 55, which would per
mit parents to set up a prepaid tu
ition fund, was passing with 52
percent of the vote.
Measure 57, which would
make possession of less than one
ounce of marijuana a class C mis
demeanor, was failing with only
27 percent of the vote.
Measure 59, which would pro
hibit the use of public money for
political campaigns, was failing
with only 41 percent of the vote.
Measure 64, the measure re
stricting clear cutting, was failing
with 25 percent of the vote.
Measure 66, which would di
vert 15 percent of lottery funding
to environmental projects, was
passing with 70 percent of the
vote.
Measure 67, which legalizes
marijuana within limits for med
ical use, was passing with 66 per
cent of the vote.