Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) announced late Wednesday that the special election to fill former Rep. David Wu's (D) seat will be held on Jan. 31, 2012, with a primary on Nov. 8, 2011.
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The district has elected only Democrats to the House since 1974, so the winner of the November Democratic primary will likely go into the general election as a heavy favorite. Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian (D) and state Rep. Brad Witt (D) are running, 2010 GOP nominee Rob Cornilles (R) is getting in the race today and state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici (D) is set to run as well.

A new poll in the special election for Oregon’s 1st district found Democrat Suzanne Bonamici and Republican Rob Cornilles with wide leads in their respective primaries.

Primary ballots are being mailed today in the vote-by-mail-only election. Voting ends Nov. 8, and the primary winners will face off Jan. 31.

The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for KATU-TV in Portland, found Cornilles taking 66 percent in the GOP primary, with no other candidate receiving more than 7 percent and 20 percent undecided. On the Democratic side, Bonamici took 52 percent, followed by Brad Avakian with 14 percent and Brad Witt with 9 percent. One-fifth of voters were undecided.

Partial returns showed [Republican Rob] Cornilles, a Tualatin businessman winning more than 70 percent of the vote while [Democrat Suzanne] Bonamici, a state senator from Beaverton, was winning about two-thirds in her primary.

In Oregon's 1st Congressional District, which stretches from the west side of Portland to the coast, Republicans acknowledge they face tough odds. The district has not elected a GOP representative since 1972 [Nixon landslide year]. Cornilles ran against Wu in 2010 and lost by nearly 13 percentage points.

Democrats have a singular mission guiding their approach to next month’s Oregon special election: Take no chances.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched a blistering, high-priced offensive aimed at cutting down Republican Rob Cornilles and boosting the party’s prospects in a race it should win easily. It has reserved around $1 million on the Portland airwaves, airing TV ads hammering Cornilles as an enemy of entitlement programs and casting him as a tea party pawn.
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“It’s a ‘taking care of business’ play,” said Mark Weiner, a prominent Oregon-based Democratic consultant who is advising state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici, a Democratic nominee. “It’s a campaign Democrats have every reason to be confident about, but you’ve got to do your due diligence to win.”
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So far, it has worked. A poll from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released last week showed Bonamici commanding a 52 percent to 41 percent lead over Cornilles.

I like Mr Weiner's comment about "taking care of business" and his general attitude about how to approach the campaign.

The former congressman from New York who resigned last summer is Anthony Weiner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/nyreg ... wanted=all

Democrat Suzanne Bonamici has 50%, Republican Rob Cornilles 39%, in a poll conducted 12/22/11 through 01/04/12, released 27 days until votes are counted.

Cornilles has a Plus 4 Net Favorability rating. Bonamici has a Plus 20 Net Favorability rating.

Given the time he's spent talking about banks on the campaign trail, some observers were surprised to hear his response to a question on reviving the 1930s-era Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited commercial banks from participating in investment business.
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Eric Schmidt, who moderated a candidates’ forum in Beaverton on Monday asked the candidates about that, "The question's pretty simply, Do you support re-enacting Glass-Steagall. The Glass Steagall Act."

"I'm not familiar with that."Cornilles replied.

Like all elections in the state, the race is being conducted under Oregon’s mail-in ballot system — which, along with Washington state, is almost nothing like voting in the rest of the country. Instead of most voters going to polling precincts on election day, voters are instead all sent ballots which are then returned by mail. On election day [Jan 31] itself, the final voters can hand in their ballots at drop-off locations.

The Democrats also put major resources into making sure [Suzanne] Bonamici supporters voted; early ballot return statistics showed that Democrats cast thousands more ballots than Republicans.

The Republican congressional leadership never tried to match the Democratic checkbook. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, did help [Rob] Cornilles raise thousands of dollars from several House Republicans and other donors, but publicly conceded last week that it was difficult to win in the "very liberal district."

Besides becoming accustomed to Congress, Bonamici also has to get ready for another election in just over four months. To earn a full two-year term starting next year, she needs to run in the May primary and November general election.

Susan Bonamici won.

And by 16 points. The last time a Republican won the district was in 1972.

Susan Bonamici won.