Haymaker time

There's only a week to go in the Oregon primary, but if a race is close, there may not be a definitive answer by this time next week. Under new rules, any ballot postmarked by Tuesday will count, even if it takes the DeJoy boys a week to get it to the county elections people.

That minor detail aside, the election is clearly the stretch run, and I've noticed some of the candidates running new negative ads against their opponents. In the middle of tonight's basketball on TV, an ad by the camp of Kurt Schrader, recently named the Farmer with the Softest Hands in America, took some vicious swipes at his primary opponent, Jamie McLeod-Skinner. Pretty much "nasty woman." Meow! 

Meanwhile, here's Tobias Read's idea of a tough negative ad. It just showed up in the mail.

It's a profitable line of argument, but he should have been hammering on this since since February. And he's way too polite. Maybe that's on purpose, to provide an alternative to his opponent's "fighter" (i.e., obnoxious) act. But man, the phrase "too little, too late" seems apropos.