A third term as governor for John Kitzhaber?

[stevedeshazer]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/a_third_term_for_kitzhaber_1.html



Will John Kitzhaber, the former two-term Democratic governor, run for an unprecedented third term? That's the speculation sweeping through the state's political community today, Oregonian senior political reporter Jeff Mapes reports.

The former two-term Democratic governor made several calls to top elected officials in Oregon on Monday and word swept through the state's political community Tuesday that Kitzhaber planned to file paperwork launching his campaign within the next few hours.

However, Kitzhaber is well-known for carefully considering his political options up to even right before an announcement. He looked seriously at challenging incumbent Gov. Ted Kulongoski in 2006 and then-Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., in 2002 but ultimately backed away from both races.

However, this year friends and acquaintances have been saying since the spring that they expect Kitzhaber to seek his old office. He has said he is looking at the race because there is "much more appetite for political change."

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Hell, yes, I'd vote for him again. He was a good governor before, but the state legislature was run by a bunch of crazy right wing lunatics back then. We threw them out in the last two elections, and now have a pretty solid Democratic majority.

Kitzhaber is, like Governor Howard Dean, also a physician and helped craft the Oregon Health Plan, which brought basic health care to thousands of Oregonians in poverty.

If true, this is an excellent development.