Would someone give me the straight skinny on Earl Blumenauer?

[unschooler]

Is he as terrific as he seems to be?

The reason I'm asking is that I received a fundraising letter from him recently, and I was (for once) really impressed. He really hit my issues smack on the head.

[Robert Oak]

1. please write him to vote no on CAFTA

http://www.issues2000.org/House/Earl_Blumenauer_HouseMatch.htm

http://www.oraflcio.unions-america.com/Legislative/u.s._house/2003_voting_record.htm

http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=OR&VIPID=676

he's clearly a liberal and clearly doesn't get it on trade agreements.

He also doesn't get use of the Visa system to increase supply for professionals, greatly reduce wages and keeps professionals unemployed.
H-1B Visa

He looks pretty great to me and needs enormous pressure on trade and
use of immigration policy to erode workers rights/increased unemployment/lower wages.

Looks like he just plain doesn't understand the true results of "free"
trade and the desire to move workers rights out from under the nation-state and into the WTO (where people will be just another tradable commodity).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Nobody is better on issues of mass transit and urban livability

I'd place him as the second most liberal member of the Oregon Congressional delegation, after DeFazio.

[funflower]

3. A major reason Portland is so terrific!

:bounce:

[Robert Oak]

6. Defazio rocks

he also "gets it" on trade issues and even immigration, which
is very rare in a liberal as a tool by multinationals to erode
wages and workers rights.

I wish he'd run for President or at least consider running against
Smith...although the risk is high and I'd hate to lose him from congress in the case of a corporate Smithakeover.

[HuckleB]

4. He puts on a couple hundred times the number of miles as * on his bike.

And yet I've never heard about a nasty spill or read that he ran over a police officer.

Earl's all right in my book. I vote for him every two years.

Salud.

[funflower]

5. I thought that "Shrubby ran into a policeman" story was rather weird.

How does an adult bicyclist do that?

[0rganism]

7. He's all that and a bag of chips

Earl's a great guy, sharp as a razor on policy, and his constituency is sufficiently liberal that he doesn't have to worry about going out on a limb. One of my few regrets about moving to Hillsboro from inner SE Portland is having to switch reps from Blumenauer to Wu, who's much more the cautious triangulator.

There is some buzz about him running for Guv'ner, if Ted K. bows out, esp. since his seat is a safe D.

[funflower]

8. Wow. He would be a great guv. Might be hard to win if the reps were to

Might be hard to win, though, if the reps were to run someone sane (OK, relatively speaking). He's a bit on the Multnomah County side of things (which is, of course, the reason I like him).

[ten]

9. Someone sane?

The Rs seem hell-bent on nominating Mannix, so I guess we don't have to worry about them running someone sane!

[funflower]

10. One can only hope! Welcome to DU, ten!

:hi: