I'd written on September 19 about an Oregonian story that identified as "major candidates" four of the thirteen people running to replace David Wu. I observed that the newspaper's definition of "major candidate" appeared to be someone who can raise a lot of money from people who want the ear of an elected official, and (in the newspaper's judgment) only four of the candidates had raised substantial sums of money.
The Whimperer is broadening its definition of "major candidate": today's story by Jeff Mapes identifies Rob Cornilles as the heavy favorite, but goes on to name as his "main Republican opponents" Jim Greenfield and Lisa Michaels. I'd like to think that the newspaper opened its eyes because of my September 19 piece, but more likely it was because Pacific University and the Portland Tribune hosted a meet-the-candidates event this past weekend to which they invited Messrs. Cornilles and Greenfield, Ms. Michaels, Suzanne Bonamici, Brad Avakian, and Brad Witt, all of whom spoke. Still, the newspaper has taken a step in the right direction; instead of letting money identify the major candidates, it's letting its competition identify them.