Kroger

What's the actual policy differences between John Kroger and Greg
Macpherson, the two Democrats running for Oregon Attorney General?

Oregonian columnist Steve Duin cuts through some of the smoke in a recent article. He notes that Macpherson might be partial to big "Oregon utilities, for example, whose interests Macpherson championed when he opposed the bill that stopped PGE and PacifiCorp from including phony taxes in their rates."

As for the expensive Measure 11, Duin writes:

"Macpherson is pushing for changes in the mandatory sentencing law, arguing -- in light of Kevin Mannix's new push for mandatory jail time for drug and property crimes -- that we ensure 'each prison bed has
the person in it who's the greatest risk.'"

Kroger, meanwhile, told the district attorneys, 'I will do everything I can as attorney general to make sure we don't water down mandatory minimums for violent crimes.'"

Steve Novick, the little populist Democrat running for U.S. Senate, has said he'd be more excited with Kroger as AG. Novick argues that a career prosecutor would get the lawyers at the AG more jazzed than a corporate lawyer.

For more background on Kroger, here's our November cover story:

Speaking of Novick, his not-the-typical-politician ads have won him a lot of attention, not to mention tens of thousands of YouTube hits. Here's a look:

Here's an EW interview with Novick:

But Novick's more mainstream opponent in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Jeff Merkley, is not to be outquirked. After a roll-over accident, Merkley put out this video on his "unstoppable" campaign:

One leading issue in this quirk-slinging campaign: Who will keep Oregon weirder?

Just after EW went to press with this week's cover story on John Kroger, the outsider hoping to shake up the Oregon AG's office, Kroger announced that he'd been endorsed by former Gov. John Kitzhaber. Read the press release here .

The Kitzhaber endorsement balances the endorsement by current Gov. Ted Kulongoski of Kroger's Democratic primary opponent Rep. Greg Macpherson.