Nader-LaDuke
The Nader campaign in Oregon was run largely independently of  the national campaign, and it was quite decentralized.  The Pacific Greens nominated Nader in January, before he even announced.  In Spring 2000, they opened an office in Portland.  Eventually, three separate independent committees were set up, raised and spent their own money and produced their own materials.  Surprisingly, Ralph Nader only visited the state once in the fall, actually in late summer (he also visited on May 25).  On Aug. 25, Nader held a rally/fundraiser with Winona LaDuke (minimum donation of $7) at Memorial Coliseum in Portland; the event drew 10,571 people, his largest crowd to date in the campaign.

This was the first "super rally" of the fall campaign, and according to Pacific Green Party co-chair Xander Patterson, it was very difficult to persuade Nader and the campaign to do it; they saw it as being a big risk because the might not be able to fill the arena.  Some of the key people in organizing the event were Laird Hastay, who came up with the idea, Greg Kafoury, a prominent Portland trial attorney who managed to convince Nader to go ahead with the rally, Kafoury's partner Mark McDougal, and volunteer Jason Morgan.  By any measure the rally was a success; it showcased Nader and local candidates, generated excitement and brought in money.  Thereafter, Nader replicated what came to be called super rallies in perhaps a dozen other states, with organizational help from these Oregonians.

The day after the rally, on Aug. 26, LaDuke, who was raised in Ashland and graduated from Ashland High School in 1976, made a homecoming visit; she spoke to Native American youth at Southern Oregon University, went to Medford, visited downtown and in the evening was the guest of honor at “Leadership to the Seventh Generation: A Hometown Tribute to Winona LaDuke” at Ashland High School.

A Decentralized Effort
After this visit, the campaign was left to the locals.  Whenever Bush or Gore visited, Nader forces showed up.  In the cities they went door to door.  Late in the campaign, the Portland committee, Victory 2000 PAC, even spent about $10,500 to run a TV commercial, mostly on cable.  There were nine campaign offices in the state (seven full-fledged).  All told Pacific Greens spent about $150,000 on campaigns during 2000; the three Nader committees spent $90,000 and the party $56,000; by contrast in 1996 the Oregon Nader campaign raised about $18,000.
 

	Three Committees:
	Victory 2000 PAC   111 S.W. Naito Parkway (S.W. Front Avenue), Portland   opened in Spring 2000 Southern Oregon Victory 2000 PAC    Old Ashland Armory - Suite 206, Talent Lane Victory 2000 PAC    228 East 11th, Eugene   opened in August 2000

In the Eugene area, Lane Victory 2000 PAC was co-chaired by Ken Grimsley, a former Democrat who registered Green in 2000, and Bradley Porterfield, a long-time Green.  Grimsley sought to establish and implement a strategic timeline.  The first major event was a booth at the Lane County Fair, followed by a campaign kick off rally in early August, and then a week later the grand opening of the local headquarters.  Other activities and accomplishments included a website with local updates; a volunteer database that grew from less than 100 to nearly 800; house parties for fundraising; several thousand door hangers and a canvass campaign managed by Doug Black; weekly Town Hall Meetings advertised in the Eugene Weekly; a letter campaign; and full- and half-page ads in newspapers before Election Day.  The full page ad was a 1,200-word open letter penned by Grimsley.  He also appeared on the two regional PBS radio shows "Northwest Passage" and "Critical Mass" and penned op-ed articles for the two major newspapers.  Grimsley did find Green Party efforts somewhat disjointed.  He noted afterward that, "He [Nader] preached decentralized grassroots power, not disorganization and personal agendas reshaping his platform.  As an example, we had Hemp advocates repeatedly trying to coopt the campaign for their narrow agenda."  Nonetheless Grimsley believes that, "Many hearts and minds were impacted by Nader's warnings about corporate power hijacking our democracy...it was a message even felt by those millions who voted, out of fear, for Gore."

Fear Campaign
The closeness of the race in Oregon cut away at potential support for Nader.  The Oregon Natural Resources Council Action Political Action Committee (ONRCA PAC) endorsed Gore on Aug. 29; PAC member Pat Clancy stated, "While we understand and appreciate Mr. Nader's historic commitment to the environment, including on national forest issues, the plain and simple effect of a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush."  On Sept. 5, Friends of the Earth president Brent Blackwelder and board member Ed Begley, Jr. joined by Gov. Kitzhaber, formally announced FoE PAC's endorsement of Gore at Gore headquarters in Portland.  The media also gave some attention to a Nov. 1 press conference in Portland in which Gary "Spruce" House of Eugene and two other activists announced their support for Gore; however these people were not active in the party; party members saw House as loose cannon and said the attention was unwarranted.  And then there were the e-mails.  Patterson said he was getting a constant stream of e-mails from Gore supporters during the closing weeks of the campaign "trying to strike terror into people."  The messages didn't say anything positive about Gore, but warned that if Bush were elected gays would die of AIDS, women would die in back alleys, and so forth.

Patterson said afterwards that if the election were not as close, Nader probably would have obtained 10 percent in Oregon. Nonetheless the campaign had a salutory effect.  During 2000 Pacific Greens increased their number of registered party members from 1,071 in January to 7,244 in November and the number of chapters from 5 to 13.  Summing up, Patterson stated, "We really rocked.  We are now on the media map, recognized leaders of the progressive community, and growing fast since the election. We're on the Move!!"

Some key people in this decentralized effort included: Irene Saikevych, Sean Parlaman and Stan Druben in Ashland  |  Art and Joanne Cvar in Lincoln County  |  Kristin Reese and Stan Loop in Hood River  |  Stuart Liebowitz in Roseburg  |  John Jones, Christina Alexander, and Richard Knablin in Coos County  |  Dave Stewart, Pattie Jones, Courtney Scott, Steve Amy, Rich Lochner, Deborah Howes and Xander Patterson in Portland  |  Ken Grimsley, Bradley Porterfield, Hope Marston, Sarah Charlesworth and Lyn Oliver  in Eugene  |  Trey Smith (party treasurer), Carolyn Gutman-Dey, Julian Snow, Ernie Williams, Sharon Scott and Mary Paladino in Salem.  |  "And many more great volunteers."

Buchanan
Pat Buchanan did not visit Oregon during the fall campaign.
Buchanan contacts were Dan Mason of Beaverton (Northern Oregon) and Randy Richards of  Roseburg (Southern Oregon).
 

Browne
Harry Browne arrived in Portland the night of Oct. 31.  On Nov. 1, he did a day of interviews in Portland and nearby Vancouver, WA, followed by an evening event.  Browne did more interviews in Portland the morning of Nov. 2, before heading to San Francisco.

Libertarian Party of Oregon
Chairman: Adam Mayer
The LPO ran 18 candidates in November, more than any other third party.  Libertarians ran for secretary of state, state treasurer and attorney general, two congressional seats, and seven legislative seats.
 

Copyright 2000, 2001  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.