Eugene Weekly

At 11:39 am, Gordon Smith lead Democrat Jeff Merkley 47.5 percent to 46.7 percent in the squeaker U.S. Senate race. But late voting in Lane and Multnomah counties could mathematically push Merkley to a narrow victory, assuming current voting trends in the two counties and the rest of the state continue. An EW analysis calculates that Merkley could end up with an estimated 48.4 percent of the total vote when all ballots are counted. Assuming percentages for a third party candidate and write-ins remain the same, that could mean a narrow Merkley victory over Smith. Continue reading →

With about a third of the vote still out at 10 am, Kitty Piercy and Rob Handy held on to 1 percent leads in the pivotal Eugene mayor and county commissioner races. With 23,769 votes Mayor Piercy held a 528 vote lead over Torrey. Looking at turnout in the 2004 election and inflating for an increase in registrations this year, Piercy may need at least about 35,000 votes to win. Continue reading →

The Lane County fairgrounds pavilion was packed with more than a 1,000 whooping, clapping people during Barack Obama’s victory speech. Continue reading →

The Eugene police auditor and pothole measures and the 4J schools and LCC money measures appear likely to pass. All held substantial leads by 10 pm with about a quarter of the votes counted. Here’s the yes vote on the measures: Police Auditor- 65% Potholes- 58% 4J Levy- 65% LCC- 56% Continue reading →

Also: That concession speech? Well played, Sen. McCain. Well played. Continue reading →

At 10 pm with about a quarter of the votes counted, Kitty Piercy’s lead had widened slightly to 52 percent in the Eugene mayor’s race. Rob Handy’s lead in the county commissioner race held at about 52 percent. Both races remained too early and close to call. Continue reading →

With about 20 percent of the ballots counted at 9 pm, the pivotal Eugene mayor and north Eugene county commissioner races were too close to call. Mayor Kitty Piercy lead Jim Torrey 51 to 48 percent. Rob Handy lead Commissioner Bobby Green 52 to 48 percent. “It’s too early to count any chickens,” Piercy said. Piercy figures she may need about 38,000 votes to be assured of victory. At 9 pm she had just 8,752. The Handy campaign said they might need about 17,776 votes to be assured of victory. At 9 pm Handy had just 3,503 votes. Continue reading →

Lane County Elections will start reporting results after about 8:30 pm on their website. The pivotal close races to watch are the Democrat Kitty Piercy v. Jim Torrey mayor showdown and the close race for the north Eugene Lane County commissioner seat between conservative Bobby Green and progressive Rob Handy. The magic number for Piercy/Torrey may be 34,060. That’s 50 percent of those who voted in a city election in November 2004. Continue reading →

Remember how George Bush, Henry Paulson and other supporters of the $700-billion bailout for banks swore up and down how the taxpayer money was desperately needed so that banks could lend money to main street Americans? Well, it now appears that’s not what the money was really for at all. The Bush Administration just handed Umpqua Bank, one of the Northwest’s largest financial institutions, $214 million in taxpayer bailout cash. Continue reading →

Could Kitty Piercy get an endorsement from Barack Obama in the tight Eugene mayor’s race? Continue reading →