Update, 10:59 pm:
THE END
And we're out. From the Doug Fir's green room—
—this is the Mercury Election Strike Force, signing off. Good night, and good luck.
Update, 10:49 pm:
"IT'S STILL NOT CALLED"
Is what we keep telling each other. Dirk VanderHart is writing tomorrow's news lede—
—and on the Doug Fir floor, people are popping the balloons.
Update, 10:29 pm:
AT LEAST THERE'S ICE CREAM
Let's all take good care of each other from here on out. Starting w/ free ice cream at our shops the rest of the evening today. With love.
— Salt & Straw (@saltandstraw) November 9, 2016
Update, 10:19 pm:
LOOK, I ACTUALLY LIKE WHITE HOUSE DOWN
It's just that the imagery seems appropriate, is all. Anyways, I'm posting .gifs now because words don't work anymore!
Update, 10:17 pm:
"IS PORTLAND GONNA FLIP CARS TONIGHT?"
This party has wrapped up... sooner than expected. People are chanting "FUCK TRUMP FUCK TRUMP FUCK TRUMP"
"Is Portland gonna flip cars tonight?" wonders Dirk VanderHart. "Seattle will if we won't."
Update, 10:10 pm:
LOCAL UPDATES
Here's where we're currently at locally and regionally, via the Oregonian. I've bolded the winners, as we are now, but some of this might change.
Governor:
Kate Brown (D): 769,011 (51.3 percent)
Bud Pierce (R): 650,680 (43.4 percent)
Secretary of State:
Dennis Richardson (R): 686,319, (47.5 percent)
Brad Avakian (D): 632,025 (43.8 percent)
US Senate:
Ron Wyden (D): 859,434 (57.8 percent)
Mark Callahan (R): 494,454 (33.3 percent)
Attorney General:
Ellen Rosenblum (D): 783,658 (55.6 percent)
Daniel Zene Crowe (R): 584,475 (41.4 percent)
Measure 97 (Corporate Tax):
Yes: 623,638 (41.6 percent)
No: 876,288 (58.4 percent)
Measure 3-510 (3 Percent County Tax on Retail Sales of Marijuana)
Yes: 107,836 (76.7 percent)
No: 32,705 (23.3 percent)
Measure 3-513 (Prohibits Certain Marijuana Registrants, Licensees, and Businesses in West Linn)
Yes: 6,430 (61.3 percent)
No: 4,053 (38.7 percent)
So really, when you put everything that's happened tonight in perspective, I think we can agree the true tragedy happened in West Linn.
Update, 9:47 pm:
JAMELLE BOUIE: "I WAS REALLY WRONG ABOUT THIS ELECTION. WE WERE ALL REALLY WRONG ABOUT THIS ELECTION."
We are on the verge of a Second Redemption to the Second Reconstruction.
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) November 9, 2016
Donald Trump did what Romney and McCain wouldn’t do. He all but cried “nigger.” And it worked.
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) November 9, 2016
I was really wrong about this election. We all were really wrong about this election. And for that, I am sorry.
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) November 9, 2016
I didn’t quite understand how much white people hated us, or could at least live with that hate. Now I do.
— Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) November 9, 2016
Update, 9:40 pm:
CHLOE'S BIG PLAN: MAKE A ZINE
"I think one of our first projects will be to make a zine on how to run for city office!" Chloe Eudaly says in her victory speech. "I want to stand as an example and an inspiration for people who are not political insiders!" she says later, and: "We ran this campaign on $100,000. From all of you! I don't think any of the 600 people that fund almost every successful campaign in this city donated." SUZETTE SMITH
Update, 9:34 pm:
NEVADA
Clinton takes Nevada. FiveThirtyEight downgrades Trump's chance of winning from 80 percent to 77 percent. So that's... something? I'll take it? Star Wars, a motion pictures about the ruthless destruction of an evil empire, came out in 1977! LET'S CALL THIS AN OMEN. A good omen.
Shhh.
let me make my omens where I can desperately create them
Update, 9:25 pm:
THESE ARE SOME TOY BRICKS WE WERE GOING TO DO SOME KIND OF HILARIOUS "BUILD A WALL" THING WITH, AND NOW WE AREN'T, BECAUSE HAHA, THIS NIGHT IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE HELLSCAPE THAT MAKES ME WANT TO DIE, AND NO ONE WANTS TO LAUGH, BECAUSE WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT LAUGHTER IS
Update, 9:20 pm:
FROM THE OREGON DEMOCRATS' PROBABLY KIND OF DEFLATED PARTY AT THE OREGON CONVENTION CENTER
In a small room beneath the main Democratic Party of Oregon gathering at the Oregon Convention Center, a jovial crowd gathered, hoping Oregonians would pass a new corporate tax gas.
They lost, relatively convincingly. But those associated with the “yes” campaign gave off optimism in their concession.
“We didn’t win the election this time, but we did win the debate” said campaign manager Ben Unger. Unger was optimistic that the they’ve got momentum going forward for future tax measures. “We’re not done.”
“It’s just my heart breaks for our students, for our seniors, because we know that the meat is there,” said Johanna Vaanderling, a teacher and Oregon Education Association president, who was a part of the campaign. "“We’ve got to find a way and come together to ensure that our students have what they need to succeed. We are stronger than ever as an organization." DOUG BROWN
Update, 9:15 pm:
"... AS REACTION RIPPLED AROUND THE GLOBE"
Just, you know, for posterity, I guess, in case your grandchildren ask when, exactly, it all went fucking wrong, here you fucking go:
Update, 9:12 pm:
RE: COCAINE & TWISTED SISTER
"Okay, who's got cocaine?"
—someone fairly high up at the Mercury, who probably would not be pleased with me posting this, and so, for the sake of my own job security, shall remain anonymous
The volume on the TV just got turned off and Twisted Sister "We're Not Gonna Take It" is blasting over the sound system.
Update, 9:06 pm:
FISH TO NOVICK: "I'M SORRY. YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT COLLEAGUE TO ME."
Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioners Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman stop by Novick’s party, buoyed by the victory of the affordable housing bond. Fish gives Novick a hug and says, “I’m sorry. You’ve been a great colleague to me." Saltzman offers condolences. Hales says, “Shit happens,” but also offers his condolences. (Fish and Saltzman had endorsed Novick. Hales had not.)Saltzman and Fish are the only two in the bunch who’ll actually be serving with Eudaly, come January. And it’s no secret she’d not mind getting control of the Portland Housing Bureau, which Saltzman oversees. I ask him if he knows her. Saltzman says: “I don’t know her at all.” I ask what he thinks about her wanting the PHB (which she’s also conceded she probably won’t get). “That’s out of my hands,” Saltzman says.
Indeed, Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler, who was reportedly speaking with Eudaly after her win, will be responsible for giving her bureau assignments. DIRK VANDERHART
Update, 9:05 pm:
HERE'S WHAT I'M SEEING, AND I WANT TO GO HOME
Update, 8:58 pm:
THE VOTES OF COLLEGE-EDUCATED WOMEN, THE VOTES OF NON-COLLEGE-EDUCATED WOMEN
A sad fact from FiveThirtyEight's Clare Malone: "College-educated white women voted for Clinton 51 percent to 45 percent, but non-college-educated white women voted for Trump 62 percent to 34 percent."
Update, 8:54 pm:
MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, AND NEVADA
Via NPR:
Donald Trump is outperforming Hillary Clinton in a host of states. We have for a long time talked about Trump’s narrow path. Right now, it’s Hillary Clinton with the narrow path. Trump is leading in Michigan and even Wisconsin, and Clinton is only up 2 points in Pennsylvania.Clinton must win both Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Nevada to win. Early voting had been promising for Clinton in Nevada. We’ll see if that holds.
Update, 8:50 pm:
LIVE FROM THE MERCURY'S SUPER-FUN PARTY: THERE'S CRYING
Here is how it feels when you go to (when you THROW) a party that you think is going to go one way, and instead it goes the other. Hell, here is how it feels when you think the country is going one way, and instead it goes the other: Like all the air has been sucked out of the room. Like it's quieter than you expected. Like nobody's quite sure where to go or what to do next.
In the quiet, over the CNN and the small talk, and the lack of small talk, I can actually hear somebody crying.
"There are many people crying,"Mercury social media coordinator Bri Brey says.
"There are a couple girls in the front row crying," says account executive CD Skehan. (Who's "from Georgia," she reminds us.)
"We don't blame you," Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey tells CD.
Then he mutters. "This is a fucking shitshow."
Update, 8:45 pm:
LOOK, THERE ARE SOME UPSIDES HERE, TO THIS SHITTY SHITTY NIGHT, AND HERE IS ONE OF THEM
Measure 99/Outdoor School is killing it, with 69 percent to 34 percent. GET OUTSIDE, YOU USELESS KIDS
(Outdoor school enthusiast Wm. Steven Humphrey says, "Make a note: I fucking called it.")
AND HERE IS ANOTHER ONE
Kate Brown won, 51 to 43 percent, with 71 percent of the votes counted. Thanks for sticking around, Kate!
Update, 8:43 pm:
SORRY, MEASURE 97
Measure 97 is holding steady—with "no" votes at 58 percent, and "yes" at 42 percent. 72 percent of votes have been counted—it's not coming back from that.
Update, 8:40 pm:
CHLOE EUDALY: "I'M NOT STARTING A CULT."
Amid cheers and name chanting, Chloe enters the stage."Okay you guys, I'm not starting a cult," she says. "I'm just going to be your new commissioner." SUZETTE SMITH
Update, 8:38 pm:
WHO IS THIS ELECTORATE?
A pundit on CNN points out there are big questions about "who this electorate is."
No shit.
We've got a balloon drop that was all ready to go, suspended form the ceiling of the Doug Fir. It's just hanging there, forgotten, above everybody's heads like a bright, pointless cloud.
Update, 8:34 pm:
TRUMP HAS WON FLORIDA
Trump has won Florida.
Update, 8:33 pm:
SECRETARY OF STATE: RICHARDSON LEADS
Oregon Secretary of State: Republican Dennis Richardson leads Democrat Brad Avakian 47 to 44 percent.
Update, 8:30 pm:
CHLOE EUDALY: "GRASSROOTS CANDIDATES CAN WIN"
Chloe Eudaly is talking about how this proves that "Grassroots candidates can win. You don't need a lot of money." She asserts that now is the time for women, people of color and other minorities to finally be heard in city politics.
I ask her "What's up next?" She feigns shock.
"Doing what we can to protect low-income tenants. I know people are sick of hearing this, but making the city work for everyone!" Then Eudaly has to go prep to address the crowd.
Songs that have played since Eudaly won: "I'm Every Woman" by Whitney Houston and "Work" by Rihanna. SUZETTE SMITH
Update, 8:29 pm:
HOPE
Don't give up hope.
She still has a path.
And even if she doesn't win, the midterms will rule.
We are a better country than this.
— Megan Burbank (@meganireneb) November 9, 2016
Update, 8:26 pm:
NOT LOOKING GOOD FOR 97
Ben Unger, the campaign manager for Measure 97, just announced it did NOT pass. DOUG BROWN
Update, 8:25 pm:
SHOCKER: NOVICK CONCEDES
In the most tumultuous votes to hit Portland City Hall in nearly 25 years, Commissioner Steve Novick got his first look at the 8 pm polling results tonight and immediately stood on a stool to issue a heartfelt concession speech.With early returns showing Chloe Eudaly leading by more than 12,000 votes—and late votes likely to favor her—Novick thanked his supporters and family members and made a number of jokes as he coped with the fact that he’ll likely lose the race for his seat.
“It looks like we’ve lost my race,” Novick said.
He laid blame for the result on his 2013 fight for a “Street Fee” to pay for Portland streets. It was a necessary fight—one Novick ultimately won when he helped pass a local gas tax—but it rubbed many voters the wrong way.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression," he said. “I was impatient and irritable and not my best self. I want to congratulate Chloe Eudaly.” I think he called her race “feisty” but I was distracted.
Novick ensured that “by god, it’s going to be a hell of a seven weeks,” referring to his time left in office. And he repeated the first thing he said to me when I walked in: “My race does not matter one bit compared to the presidential race. Right now I’m very scared for the country. “
The last challenger to unseat a city commissioner: Now-mayor Charlie Hales, in 1992.
It is somber here. People are hugging and shocked. DIRK VANDERHART
MEANWHILE:
Sharon Meieran is trouncing Eric Zimmerman, 68 to 31 percent.
AND:
The pro-Measure 97 folks are in a smaller room beneath the Democratic Party of Oregon's main room. National election news are only on two small screens, with no sound, and people seem happier. Nobody I talked to seems to know how voting is going so far. DOUG BROWN
Update, 8:20 pm:
"CHLOE! CHLOE! CHLOE!"
Marshal Runkel, Chloe's campaign manager, is doing some running hugs. "We won! We won!" he says to the people he is hugging.Chants of "Chloe! Chloe! Chloe!" come up from the drinking area. There are waves of jubilant cheers. I am asked to have my picture taken by the Chloe Wall and they are annoyed when I say, "Maybe in a minute." There's more screaming, and I am told Novick conceded on Twitter. [Kind of important note: As of now, this does not seem to be true. —Ed.] SUZETTE SMITH
Update, 8:16 pm:
FROM YES ON 26/HOUSING BOND: "THIS AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS IS NOT GONNA BE RESOLVED OVERNIGHT"
The gambit of having celebratory speeches before the returns come in is smart, because it fills the time we'd otherwise just be spending nervously waiting for the election results. Jess Larson, director of the Welcome Home Coalition, starts off a program featuring city commissioners and housing advocates."I know there are a lot of emotions in the room," she says. She thanks those who worked on the campaign who are present, as well as Justin Buri, the former executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants who passed away last week, calling him "a brilliant passionate leader for housing justice."
Also on the docket: Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who thanks campaign staff, and says that for their work, "I believe we're gonna be rewarded." He says he started or skeptical about the housing bond, but that he was won over, and there's more work to be done, even if it passes. "There's a lot more work to be done," he says. "This affordable housing crisis is not gonna be resolved overnight."
Israel Bayer of Street Roots echoes this sentiment, calling the measure "the end of a long long race," adding that, "we fully understand that this is just the beginning.... We're going to go to Salem and put housing on the map."
Nick Fish vamps during the 10 minutes between the speeches and the returns drop. Moments later, we find out it passed. The room fills with cheers, the mood audibly shifting from its morose beginning.
I'm still fucking pissed about the presidential race. MEGAN BURBANK
Update, 8:14 pm:
FIRST LOCAL RESULTS: EUDALY AHEAD, 97 DOWN
We've got our first local results. Let's look at them so we don't have to look at what's going on nationally.
Right now we're looking at Eudaly ahead of Novick, but it's close: 102,528 to 90,045.
97 is getting beat. We kinda knew that was happening.
Housing bond is ahead by a healthy margin.
Update, 8:08 pm:
IT GETS WORSE
Trump wins North Carolina. FiveThirtyEight now predicts Trump has a 61 percent chance of winning.
Update, 8:05 pm:
DRINKING WITH EUDALY
There are no free drinks at this party.But the drinking area is paaaaacked. SUZETTE SMITH
Update, 8:01 pm:
OBVIOUSLY, OREGON
Huge cheers in the convenction center as MSNBC announced a slew of (expected) Clinton wins: California, Washington, and then, obviously, Oregon. DOUG BROWN
Update, 8:01 pm
CALIFORNIA AND HAWAII FOR CLINTON, IDAHO FOR TRUMP
FiveThirtyEight is giving both Clinton and Trump a 49 percent chance of winning. This is terrible. This feels terrible.
Update, 8 pm:
THAT WAS CATHARTIC
We decided it was time for the Trump piñata. The Trump piñata lasted about 20 seconds.
Update, 7:55 pm:
"THE BAR LINES ARE LONG"
... at the Democrats' party at the Oregon Convention Center.
The place is filling up. There are hundreds of Democrats here, mostly bummed out, watching MSNBC (earlier reported it was NBC News; it’s MSNBC. The bar lines are long. DOUG BROWN
Update, 7:50 pm:
WHERE DID ALL MY FRIENDS GO
A little while ago the green room was full of my coworkers and friends! We were all having fun! Now they all left and it's just me with my stupid computer. The mood is... DYING
"I think it's time for the Trump piñata?" Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey says.
"Morale is fucking low right now," says social media director Bri Brey.
Update, 7:50 pm:
BETS AND PREDICTIONS FROM THE NOVICK PARTY
Over at the Novick party, Novick’s wife, Rachel, campaign manager Jake Weigler, and I briefly mull placing bets on local races.Rachel Novick likes Sharon Meieran for Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, while Weigler likes her opponent, Eric Zimmerman (who he’s working for). We all sort of think Measure 97 could fall short. We talk about betting on how many write-in votes activist Teressa Raiford will score against Sheriff Mike Reese, who’s running unopposed.
We settle on that one—will write-in candidates receive more than 5 percent of the vote?—but it turns out I don’t have any cash (journalist).
Meanwhile, everyone’s still losing it over the presidential race, and the crowd—now including Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek—goes wild when CNN declares Virginia for Clinton.
By the way, Weigler expects the Novick-Eudaly race to be close. He’s far more focused on the presidential contest.
I still haven’t eaten. DIRK VANDERHART
Update, 7:45 pm:
"SOMEONE TELLS ME THE NATIONAL ELECTION IS GOING POORLY AND I TELL THEM TO SHUT UP. I'LL THINK ABOUT THAT LATER."
Suzette Smith, from Chloe Eudaly's party at Holocene:
There are a lot of people at Chloe Eudaly's election party! Holocene feels full and mingle-y. Someone tells me the national election is going poorly and I tell them to shut up. I'll think about that later.The booze area is separated from the main floor so youths may abound. KGW is projected on the main stage. For now, all commentary is obscured by optimistic disco. EXACTLY RIGHT, DJ. Don't think about terrible things before you have to. Speaking of non-terrible things, there are so many snacks.
"I think this is the most free snacks we've ever had!" Gina Altamura, Holocene's talent buyer, says.
Is that for real? I say.
"Definitely the most cookies." Gina says. SUZETTE SMITH
Update, 7:42 pm:
"THIS GOT A LOT LESS FUN REALLY FAST."
"I feel like I just want to greet the apocalypse in my apartment," Alex Falcone just told me, packing up his shit and leaving.
Update, 7:37 pm:
"HUH, SO THIS IS A PARTY."
That's what Senior Editor Ned Lannamann mumbled as he, walked into the Doug Fir's green room and settled into the couch with a heavy sigh. I ask Ned how he's feeling.
"Numb," he says.
Update, 7:35 pm:
WELL, THIS COULD BE GOING BETTER
In order to get back on track in the electoral college, Clinton needs to both Wisconsin and Michigan—or one and another tight state, like Arizona. As of now, both Wisconsin and Michigan are very tight.
Update: 7:32 pm:
FROM THE YES ON 26 PARTY: CONSOLATION IN TINY BANH MI
I check in with the campaign's communications director, Amy Ruiz, who tells me that campaign staff and volunteers made over 40,000 voter contacts. Their speeches are set to start at 7:30 so as not to cut into initial returns at 8 pm. I look up and see the huge margin Hillary Clinton won by in New York, as panicked texts come in from my friends about the state of the presidential race. I'm going to eat as many tiny banh mi as I possibly can. MEGAN BURBANK
Update, 7:29 pm:
"OHIO WAS JUST ANNOUNCED FOR TRUMP. PEOPLE ARE GROANING."
It’s just after 7:15 and people are starting to fill up a large room in the Oregon Convention Center for the Democratic Party of Oregon’s election night gathering.It’s a large room. At the front are two large screens projecting NBC’s coverage, with a podium in the middle below Kate Brown and Ron Wyden signs. The democratic heavy hitters in the state will be here tonight. They’ve got an number of bars and hors d’oeovre stands
Ohio was just announced for Trump. People are groaning. DOUG BROWN
Update, 7:28 pm:
TRUMP TAKES OHIO
Nate Silver, at this point, gives Trump a 55 percent chance of winning.
Fuck.
Update, 7:27 pm:
STEVE NOVICK AT SPIRIT OF '77: "I CAN IMAGINE LOSING BY FIVE OR WINNING BY 30."
City Commissioner Steve Novick is waiting to see if he can fend off bookstore owner Chloe Eudaly in the small, private upstairs room at Spirit of ’77, and as Donald Trump performs better than anyone imagined, he is losing it.
“If Clinton pulls it out, I don’t give a damn what happens to me,” Novick says when I ask which race he cares about more.
He’s barely even paying attention when I ask how we handicaps his own race: “I can imagine losing by five or winning by 30.”
This is what makes Novick’s race the most compelling of the local contests: No one seems to know how it will shake out. Novick says his camp did some polling in September that showed him with a slim lead and a huge amount of voters still undecided. How does he think they have come down in the months that followed?
“I have no idea,” he tells me, eyes trained on the enormous screen blaring CNN, where pundits seem to be finding it very difficult to imagine that Clinton could take Florida. “No clue.”
I should mention: THERE ARE NO TVs PLAYING ELECTION RESULTS IN THE MAIN PART OF THE BAR, which—right now?—feels like what’s wrong with the results we’re all watching on the screen.
There’s a Blazers game on, of course. They couldn’t find one screen?
I’m drinking a free beer, and headed downstairs to check out the food spread, which appears to involve pulled pork and hand pies. DIRK VANDERHART
Update, 7:21 pm:
FROM THE YES ON 26 (BONDS TO FUND AFFORDABLE HOUSING) PARTY: "THE FUTURE IS FEMALE"
Our first report from one of our local contest is IN, from Megan Burbank, who's at the Yes on Measure 26 party at p:ear.
People trickle in as presidential race results come in on monitors tuned to PBS NewsHour and NBC. Luckily, there's also wine, and a lot of cookie options. "I'm having 2000 flashbacks," says a man standing behind me. Me too, dude. Me too. A lot of women here are wearing blazers and pantsuits for Hillary, one with a "THE FUTURE IS FEMALE" T-shirt. "Whatever happens tonight, the future is female," she says. I hope she's right. MEGAN BURBANK
Update, 7:05 pm:
EVERYTHING SO FAR IS NOT GREAT BUT HEY, IT COULD BE WORSE
We're at the Mercury's party at the Doug Fir, where things are going totally fine in some regards—
—and in other regards are starting to already take a turn for the... ominous? This man is my boss.
Under the not-so-heartening headline "Razor-Thin Margins for Candidates in Battleground States," the New York Times is painting a lurid, seeping stripe of fresh-spilled blood right down the heart of sweet Mother America.
Clinton seems to be narrowing her lead in the electoral college (which still exists, for reasons no one seems super clear on, but I digress: the current count is 104 Clinton, 140 Trump), and the Doug Fir's capacity crowd is a blend of WHOOOOOS and BOOOOOS directed at CNN's Wolf Blitzer as states reveal themselves to be our friends or enemies. Sorry, Wolf? Who am I kidding. I'm not sorry, Wolf.
We've got our Mercury Election Strike Force out and about for local contests as we speak—stay tuned as we update throughout the night, and as my panic attack continues in real time!
Original post, 11 am:
THE PORTLAND MERCURY'S LIVE UPDATES FROM THE 2016 ELECTION!
WELCOME TO THE DYSFUNCTIONAL HELLSCAPE OF MODERN AMERICA THE MERCURY'S 2016 ELECTION LIVEBLOG! Starting around 7 pm tonight, this is the place for live updates of:
• UPDATED ELECTION RESULTS!
• INSIGHTFUL ANALYSIS!
• THRILLING INTERVIEWS!
• BORING NUMBERS!
• SHOCKING REVELATIONS!
• HALF-DRUNK CORRESPONDENTS!
• OKAY, MOSTLY DRUNK CORRESPONDENTS!
We'll be keeping a close eye on the presidential race, of course, to discover if tomorrow we'll find ourselves in phase two of the Clinton Dynasty (likely!) or if we'll never, ever awaken from our long national nightmare about a pussy-grabbing white supremacist (less likely!) (still terrifying!). Either way: Barring some kind of unforeseen disaster (FLORIDA) this horrific election is finally going to end tonight. Thank fucking Christ.
In addition to national updates, we'll have our award-winning Mercury Election Strike Force covering all the big local stuff, too: Doug Brown will be reporting from the Yes on 97 party and the Oregon Democrats Rally, both at the Oregon Convention Center. Suzette Smith will be at Chloe Eudaly's shindig at Holocene, while Dirk VanderHart will hit Steve Novick's party at Spirit of '77. Megan Burbank will be checking out the Affordable Housing Bond party at p:ear, and also maybe dropping by the No on 97 media room at the Embassy Suites. That last one sure sounds fun. Out-of-state corporations always throw the best parties.
Meanwhile, I will be here, on Blogtown, with all of you, serving up reports from all those people—plus updates from the Mercury's 2016 Election Party at the Doug Fir! Our party is gonna be hosted by Mercury Editor-in-Chief Wm. Steven Humphrey, who is already drunk as I type this, which is at 11 am, so really, I don't see any possible way in which all of this could go sideways.
We'll get through this. Together. See you tonight.
