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They say that Oregon is for dreamers. One dream I have is to see Democracy work. According to a recent AP story, "Rep. Darlene Hooley doesn't plan to comment on the (5th District Democratic Primary) campaign until after the primary election, said spokeswoman Joan Mooney." In my dream democracy, even incumbant candidates would take the time to debate challengers. Otherwise, we end up with the situation we have now - incumbants-for-life. The incumbency re-elect rate in 2000 was 99% on House races, and around 95% in 2002. It's never been lower than 85% in the last 20 years. We are seeing some movement on election reform so that in parts of the country at least, challengers are on somewhat equal playing fields financially. But in our state when a good candidate like Andrew Kaza comes along, he faces an uphill battle - especially if his opponent refuses to engage in a debate of the issues.
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