George Romney Dinner Ticket

This ticket from a fundraising dinner in 1967 to benefit Oregon House Republicans featured a keynote by Michigan Governor George Romney. It is noted in a longer article about Romney from the Owosso Argus-Press. The very end of the article mentions that a former Mark Hatfield aide is now working for Romney.

I picked this ticket up on a New Years Eve adventure in Salem. It was at one of the local antique shops. There is a quick blurb about the dinner it here (scroll down until you see PORTLAND)

25 dollars doesn't seem like much to attend a dinner with a potential presidential candidate a little under a year before the Oregon '68 primary. Then again, we only have current 'per plate' dinners to compare too.  Oregon APIC member John Silvertooth stated he was in the audience at the speech. I wonder if he can dig up any other memorabilia from the event.

Romney did not last long in the '68 race. He withdrew after weeks of problems associated with his 'brainwashed' comments regarding the Vietnam war. The first article linked mentions the comments and the start of the fallout from them.

He ended up withdrawing from the race before the first primary.

Al Ullman Tweeted At Me

Oregon APIC member Grant Schott tweeted this neat photo of Congressman Al Ullman to me over the weekend. I thought I would share it here.

This photo was taken in 1956 during a Stevenson and Democratic campaign rally at Bonneville Dam. Note the silver shoe lapel pin and the Oregon Needs Morse 7/8 inch pin. Of course, Ullman is wearing a much larger pin with his name on it.

Ullman was a legendary political mover and shaker in Congress. As we have mentioned before, the highpoint of his congressional influence came as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee from 1974-1981.

It is always fun to find a photo of an Oregon politician wearing some campaign regalia. Thanks  @grantschott

Have a photo share with us? Just post it here in the comments. 

Favorite Items of 2014

Some of our friends on Facebook began posting what their 'favorite finds' of 2014 were. I thought I would start the ball rolling for the Oregon group.

My first favorite pin (well it is really 4) was eliminating not 1, or 2 but 4 pins from my MORSE WANT LIST. I was rather blown away.

I got the Morse-McGovern-Shriver pin for my birthday from a friend, the smaller Morse-McGovern and Porter pins followed and then finally I picked up the Blue and White Morse Bristow pin. 2014 was a great year for Morse pins! All of these pins are from 1972.

W.J. Furnish Lapel Stud

Got this W.J. Furnish for Governor lapel stud on the Political Memorabilia Exchange founded by APIC members on facebook. There is a matching button to this lapel stud. Furnish was the 1902 Republican nominee for Governor. He unseated then Governor T.T. Geer and two other opponents at the Republican State Convention in Portland that April. Geer and another candidate withdrew before balloting leaving Furnish and H.E. Ankney to campaign for the votes of delegates.

Clinton-Gore-Wellstone Pins

1996 gave collectors an array of coattail pins from President Clinton's re-election effort. As a Wellstone collector I have managed to find several over the years that I include in my collection. This one is perhaps my favorite of the Clinton-Wellstone coattail pins. At 3" inches it really stands out.

There are several others that can be found including,

This set given out at the 1996 Democratic National Convention to the Minnesota Delegation. This photo was from fellow APIC member Paul Bengston's collection. All pins are 2.25" inches.

Another '96 coattail is from the Minnesota State Convention and  is 3" inches. There is another version of this pin that is white and blue and does not have the 'state convention' mention on the face.

This pin is similar to several different Minnesota Clinton pins that use the map of the state with different wording around it.

The last pin, is a rectangular pin and is the only Clinton-Wellstone picture pin that I know of currently.

While it is a neat pin to have, I ultimately think the photo used is a bad one. Do you know of any other Clinton-Wellstone pins from 1996?

December Events

September Finds: Morse, Throop, & More

Turned up several neat items in antique and thrift shops around my area. The first is a Wayne Morse bumper sticker from his 1956 re-election campaign. Really neat item, and a first for me.

As most know, Morse had recently switched from the GOP to the Democrats after growing increasingly frustrated with party leadership and the direction the party was going on many policy fronts. He would win in 1956, by defeating former Oregon Governor and then Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay.