Oregon: Or-3

Oregon Democratic Party Chair Meredith Wood Smith had a mixed reaction to rumors Thursday that two Oregon Democratic politicians are being considered for posts in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

Political junkies throughout the country have been theorizing that Obama is considering former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber for Secretary of the Interior, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) as Transportation Secretary.

The Oregonian endorsed congressional candidate Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) in OR-5 Sunday, saying he was ready to serve Oregonians in Washington D.C.

“Voters in Oregon's 5th Congressional District have an easy choice to make in the November election: They should elect Kurt Schrader, the veterinarian and respected state senator from Canby,” the editorial board wrote. “Schrader is a conservative Democrat who built a reputation during his decade in the Legislature as a hard-nosed numbers cruncher and advocate for performance-based budgeting.”

U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) and David Wu (D-Portland) will both have the chance to address Democratic convention goers outside of the Oregon caucus on Tuesday by participating in discussions on policy issues.

Blumenauer will be part of the Energy Preparedness roundtable addressing global climate change and energy independence at the Denver Center for Performing Arts at 1:30 p.m. Mountain time.

Wu will be attending a Health IT roundtable discussion at 1801 California St. at 2 p.m. Mountain time.

All five of Oregon’s congressional representatives donated tens of thousands of dollars, and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars, to their respective party congressional campaign committees, according to numbers released by the Federal Elections Commission Friday.