Candidate Bush I think sometime in late October 2000. He flew in to give a short speech at the University of Portland at the Chiles Center, I was there, it was pretty lame. He kept talking about schools, education, the children, no child left behind, I kept yelling; "the Federal governments not supposed to be involved with the schools, it's a State and local issue". Actually that's what I wanted to yell, but instead I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to be removed and end up on the evening news.
By EVELYN NIEVES
Published: November 2, 2000
For a moment on Monday morning, Sandra Shipley thought she might head over to Portland Community College to see the man she prefers to be the next president of the United States, Vice President Al Gore.
Dan Hagar thought, briefly, of attending an afternoon rally at Memorial Coliseum for his man, Gov. George W. Bush.
Instead, Ms. Shipley shopped for shoes, and Mr. Hagar went for a 10-mile run.
''He's not a very exciting speaker,'' Ms. Shipley, 32, a part-time student, said of Mr. Gore. ''I mean, as a Democrat, I'm voting for him. That should be enough.''
Mr. Hagar, 42, a sales manager for a computer parts company, was hardly more apologetic. ''The way they promoted the event, I knew they wouldn't miss me,'' he said. ''It's no big deal not to hear Bush misspeak.''
So it was a day after the two major-party presidential candidates came calling to aid their chances to win Oregon's seven electoral votes -- votes that have become very much up for grabs.
Seeming very ''eh'' about it, Portland was shrugging its shoulders.
The visits by Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush did not even make the top of the 11 o'clock news Monday night on at least one television station, KATU. While both candidates broadcast several commercials during the news -- the Portland TV market is one of the country's biggest this year for presidential advertising -- their rallies followed a story on trick-or-treating.
This morning's show on the local talk radio station, KEWS-AM, devoted some attention to the candidates, but more to local propositions.
A statewide poll for KATU and The Oregonian, the state's largest newspaper, released Monday night continued to show the race in a statistical dead heat, with Mr. Gore at 45 percent, Mr. Bush at 44 percent. Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate whose support in Oregon has Democrats worried, drew 6 percent.
Of a dozen people interviewed downtown this morning, five said they were voting for Mr. Gore, three named Mr. Bush, three named Mr. Nader, and one said he was not voting. There was zero enthusiasm for the way the contest, the closest presidential race in Oregon in decades, is winding up.
Like a prom queen faced with two less-than-ideal suitors, those interviewed today said they wished they had more choices.
''I'm disgusted with Gore's campaign,'' said Johnny Gladstone. ''He has sold out to all the special interests, and he pretends to be progressive.'' Mr. Gladstone, 20, a student and self-described activist, planned to vote for Mr. Nader.
A group calling itself ''Greens for Gore'' issued a release this morning to say it was calling on Mr. Nader's supporters to vote for Mr. Gore, but members of the Portland Green Party said they knew nothing of the group.
Portland is a politically attuned city, tackling the social problems of homelessness and heroin addiction while it prospers in the New Economy, and people who spoke were not apathetic about the election.
''All elections are important,'' said Josie Quintalla, 45. ''It's disrespectful to the country not to vote.''
But the issues the two leading candidates keep coming here to discuss -- Social Security, tax relief and health care -- were not the ones that people said mattered most. Several, including one who planned to vote for Mr. Bush, said that re-examining the death penalty should be an issue, and several emphasized the Supreme Court.
''The Gore campaign has been glossing over the issue of the makeup of the Supreme Court until recently, when Nader became a threat,'' Harold Washington, a Gore supporter, said. ''It missed the chance to show how bad a Bush presidency could be to this country's justice system.''
Several Gore supporters said they hoped to attract their friends on Mr. Nader's side to the Democrats.
''I don't blame my friends for supporting Mr. Nader,'' Harold Silver, a software salesman, said. ''I'd be voting for him too, if I wasn't so chicken about a Bush presidency.''
Bush supporters were equally unimpressed. Raye Woolbright said ''Go Bush!'' when asked his choice for president, but later said he planned to change his registration to independent from Republican, given the recent choices the party had offered.
Tags: bush george 2000 campaign election gore portland oregon university
