Governor Of Oregon example essay topic

When the 2002 elections came about and John Kitzhaber's terms as governor of Oregon were a thing of the past, it left a wide open office to be claimed. This statement, yet true, may not hold up as far as the office being left open. Oregon as a state has elected a Democratic governor for the past twenty years, this would mean that any Democrat wanting to run for the governor of Oregon already had a good step on the other candidates as far as history would show. This definitely was one thing taken into consideration in our choice of Democrat Ted Kulongoski as the new governor of Oregon. Ted's strongest opposition would come from Tom Cox, the Republican. Ted Kulongoski, the Democratic parties candidate for the position of governor of Oregon just turned 42 on November 5th.

Ted was born in St. Louis where he was raised by Catholic nuns after his father died. He served in the US Marines and then attended the University of Missouri by way of the GI Bill. Ted became a lawyer and pursued his own practice which then led him to run for the Oregon House of Representatives in 1974 and won. Four years later he was then elected to the Senate. In 1992 the people of Oregon elected Ted Attorney General with the highest vote total for any statewide candidate, definitely again showing how much Oregon as a state backs him. Ted is considered a lifelong outdoorsman who loves backpacking and fishing in Oregon's wilderness.

He lives with his wife, Mary, a legal editor, and have three grown children. His appearance as a person comes across as a guy you would see on a daily basis. He is very hol some looking, but also professional. Overall, Ted seems like someone you would just call a friend, and not consider him as a stereotypical "political figure".

Kevin Mannix, the Republican running in the 2002 Oregon Gubernatorial turned 53 on November 26th. Kevin was born in Queens, New York and has lived everywhere from Panama, to Bolivia, to Ecuador. Kevin went on to pursue a career in law and ended up opening his own firm in 1986. In 1988 Mannix was elected as a State Representative in Oregon which he held until 1994. In 1998 Kevin was appointed as a State Senator which he held until 2001.

In 2000 he ran for attorney general and lost. Kevin Mannix comes across as the typical "political figure". Anyone can look at him and make an assumption that he is involved in politics. Kevin seems like a kind of person that would walk up to you with a fake grin on his face and try to talk to you about his ideas, not just someone that would be able to hold a regular conversation about off topic interests. Mannix seems strictly politics, this may come across to some as too much out of reach and unapproachable.

If one follows some of the election donations toward these two individuals you can see that Kevin Mannix raised $1,169,393.00 with the biggest contribution coming from Loren Parks for $250,000.00 as a cash investment. Far behind this amount of money raised is that of Ted Kulongoski. Ted raised $747,115.14 for his campaign. The lower amount of money raised could have be attributed to the confidence in Oregon once again electing a Democratic governor and the need for high spending would not be necessary.