Big news out of Oregon today concerning the governor's race: independent candidate Ben Westlund has announced he's
dropping out. Ben Westlund is a moderate-to-liberal state senator who used to be a Republican and turned officially Independent to prepare for his gubernatorial run. Although he was a former Republican, it appeared that he was drawing more support from Democrats than Republicans (he was drawing a lot of labor support, as well as support for being one of the legislature's leading voices for gay civil rights), thus threatening Kulongoski's re-election bid. Apparently, he realized that he wasn't in position to win, saw who he was drawing votes from, and decided to bail. (He was still in the signature-gathering phase, although it seemed like he was well on his way to getting the needed signatures.) Good on him!
"At the beginning of this campaign, I made a commitment to the people of Oregon that I was in it to win it and that I absolutely would not play a spoiler role," Westlund said at a news conference in Salem.
"Therefore today, with no regrets but some sadness I am here to honor that commitment. I am proud to keep that promise to the people of Oregon--despite the fact I unquestionably could qualify for the ballot--by announcing my withdrawal from the race for governor."
Kulongoski had been polling better since the primary (the most recent Rasmussen had him up over Republican Ron Saxton 45-35 in a two-way race, with 56% approval), but this has to improve his chances nevertheless. Also helpful is that probably the biggest minor-party spoiler now is on the right (former perky talk-show host Mary Starrett is running, I believe on the Constitution Party line).