There was once a time of economic prosperity and great times for Oregon. From 1995-2003, Oregon was doing very well. This was due to a great governor who was a forward thinker. During that same time, at varying times, the Blazers, Knicks and Suns missed a lot of free throws. The reasons behind both of those situations are meeting for the first time, in an Oregonian gubernatorial race. John Kitzhaber was a former governor who led Oregon into a huge economic boom. He has written more budgets than anybody in Oregon's history. Chris Dudley was a former basketball player who was (apparently) the head of the NBA player's union, or something to that effect. He has missed more consecutive free throws than anybody in NBA history. John Kitzhaber has excruciatingly detailed, very strong, very public stances on the issues. Chris Dudley has no real stances on the issues. John Kitzhaber welcomes any opportunity to debate and make known his stance on the issues. Chris Dudley decided at the last minute that he had a "commitment to go on vacation with his family" during the first gubernatorial debate. John Kitzhaber will be attending that "debate" by himself. John Kitzhaber has been in government, on and off, since 1985. Chris Dudley has never had any government position, but he became the VP of M Financial Wealth Management (Ever heard of it? Me neither.), and in late 2008 became a wealth management partner with Filligree advisors. John Kitzhaber has stood up for gays, schools, the environment, and small businesses. Chris Dudley has stood up at about 7 ft. tall. John Kitzhaber boasts that he was a doctor before he was a politician. Chris Dudley brags that he has diabetes.
I mentioned earlier that Chris Dudley flaked out of a debate. Because of my poor ranting organizational skills, I will cover details of that topic now. Since 1984, the beginning of the gubernatorial campaign season was this first debate in July. Apparently, Chris Dudley isn't taking the campaign seriously enough to so much as be in Oregon for this debate. Seriously, if you are going to be on vacation while you're running for governor, it might not be a bad idea to check out the date first, and it would especially not be a bad idea, even if you did have a vacation, to mention that earlier on in the campaign so maybe it could be moved or something. I have nothing against Mr. Dudley's family, but I don't think that it's too much to ask that he takes his campaign seriously enough that he shows up to the most important events. I mean, I would rather be in Hawaii or Mexico or whatever too, but if we can't even trust him to show up to a debate, how can we trust him as governor? I would feel so bad if a gubernatorial run would force Chris Dudley to have to say in his multi-million dollar Lake Oswego house for an extra week. Oh, the humanity. Honestly, though, he's probably making a very smart decision. As I mentioned, Dr. Kitzhaber has an excellent grasp on the issues. At best, people will see Mr. Dudley as a family man, and at worst, people will see him as a lazy, inconsiderate jerk who doesn't care about his gubernatorial run. If he did debate, people would realize that he has no idea what he's talking about.
Now, you may be asking, why are you so indignant? John Kitzhaber is so clearly the better candidate that there is no way that he can't win! Unfortunately, this is not the case. The race seems to be a dead heat, and the Dud has a slight edge, because apparently, some people would prefer a 7 foot tall basketball player as their governor than an real life governor.
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