Upcoming APIC May Events

Several APIC Events coming up for the month of May. You can visit www.apic.us for more info on what goes on at an APIC Show.

Charles Jordan Remembered

Over the weekend former Portland City Commissioner Charles Jordan passed away. Jordan was appointed to his seat in 1974 and was elected to a full term that May. He faced 14 opponents in the primary. Over 98,000 votes were cast and Jordan managed to grab over 30,000 of them. His nearest challenger, Gene Anderson, took just over 10,000 votes. Both men would face off in the November General Election. Jordan would come out on top again over Anderson. He would be elected to serve on the commission with future Mayor Frank Ivancie, and Auditor Mildred Schwab.

Here is a bumper sticker from that first primary campaign in 1974.

The 'new face' was a creative take on two different aspects of his appointment. First, that he was already on the city council and that he was first African American to serve and be elected in Portland on the council.

Theodora "Tonie" Nathan Remembered

Nathan for Lane Co. Commission Card

The state of Oregon lost one of its most interesting political figures of the last fifty years when Tonie Nathan passed away today. She was a founding member of the national Libertarian Party and the first woman in United States history to receive an electoral vote in the 1972 presidential election. She was also the first Jewish American to receive an electoral vote. Beating both Geraldine Ferraro and Joe Lieberman to those historic firsts.

While her electoral exploits from 1972 are mostly remembered for good trivia for Oregon political junkies today; her victory of a single electoral vote in 1972 are due to the thanks of elector Roger MacBride.

Ray Smith Republican Club button

Picked this item up at the Portland Expo Antique & Collectable show earlier this month.

Don't know a whole lot about these 'Republican Clubs', it appears though from looking around the archives of  Oregon newspapers that they were around as late as the 1950s. You can find several articles mentioning the election of new officers and adoption of various policies for the Oregon GOP platform. Here's an article from the Bend Bulletin reporting on the highlights of the convention that this particular pin is from.

Americans with Hart Montana button

Was able to add this Montana Gary Hart pin from his 1984 campaign to my collection this weekend. I thought I found a really great Democratic primary campaign item. Having done a good deal of reading and research on the 1984 election in general, I had a fair understanding of the dynamics of the race between Mondale, Hart and Jackson. What I didn't anticipate was seeing on the results map was the uncommitted slot winning the 1984 Montana Democratic Primary.

I knew then, I had to do a little more digging to find out how this came to be. Gary Hart seems to be a candidate that should have won the primary, being a Senator from neighboring Colorado.

Earlier in year, back in March of 1984 Montana Democrats had met for a Caucus. Hart would beat Mondale in the caucus and gain 11 of the 19 delegates up for grabs. Mondale would take 8 and the remaining 6 were unpledged super delegates that could vote for whomever they wanted.

Oregon's Earl Blumenauer on the Trail since 1970

1981 City Council Button

Earl Blumenauer has been a fixture of Portland politics since the 1970s. One of the few that has served in just about every level of government offered in Portland.  He got his start by organizing the Go 19 campaign in 1970. This would have lowered the voting age in Oregon to 19. While this effort was unsuccessful, it helped push pressure towards the passage of the twenty-sixth Amendment that lowered the voting age to 18 in 1972.

Winning a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1972 and was re-elected in 1974 and 1976. During this time he was also attending law school and working at Portland State University. In 1978 he won a seat on the Multnomah County Commission and during his term sought a seat on the Portland City Council in 1981. He would lose this race to Margaret Strachan.

It wouldn't be until the late 80s when another opportunity opened up for Blumenauer to vie for a seat on the city council. This time he would win and serve there until his election to congress in 1996.

While on the city council, Blumenauer was able to work on transportation issues and was the Commissioner of Public Works for the city. It was during his time on the city council that Blumenauer went up against Vera Katz in the open mayoral election in 1992. While he would lose this race, he continued to serve on the city council and that allowed him the opportunity to run to replace Ron Wyden after he advanced to the U.S. Senate in 1996.

Happy Valentines Day

May you find that special political item you've always wanted today. Just going to show a little love to Valentine related items.


While I have only one Valentine specific item, the great thing about our hobby is lots of people can share their collections easily.

This Reagan card was shared by Joe McClusky. It is from his 1976 campaign.

Here is a Howard Dean related item from my collection.

It is 3", and I believe it was made by Graphic Politics.