Helen Cannon Delegate Badge

While taking a trip to the Oregon coast this weekend I stumbled upon a few political items. In one shop, there were some very common 1960s-1970s local Oregon candidate and national presidential buttons. Lot's of Nixon's the One!, Morse, Packwood. Many of the typical pins you might find at antique shops across the state.

In the mix of all these pins was a badge and ribbon pictured below. Still trying to find out more details about Helen Cannon and what event the badge is from exactly. It could be from an Oregon Republican State Convention in 1968 or 1972.

 If you know what event these badges were used from, please leave a comment.

Wyatt Postcard Found

This postcard was recently discovered on ebay.  It is from a campaign of Wendell Wyatt.

Hardy Myers Remembered

Shortly after Thanksgiving in 2016 Oregon lost one of its most humble public servants. Hardy Myers passed away at the age of 77. Born in Electric Mills, Mississippi. Like many, he found his way to Oregon when his family moved here for the logging. His father worked in the Bend area before settling the family in Prineville. That's where he met his future wife Mary Ann. He would go back to the East for college and then return again for to Oregon for law school.

Hardy Myers enjoyed public service. It seemed to be in his blood. As a volunteer in his local Parrish he got the attention of others in the community. He soon found himself volunteering to serve on public boards and commissions in Portland. That would then get friends to urge him to run for the Oregon Legislature. You can read about many of his accomplishments in elected office here.

2016 Democratic Primary Pins

Every election there are groups out there that produce pins featuring the entire field of candidates for any particular political party. The Democrats of 2016 were no exception. Conventions and special events that all candidates were invited to often saw a button, poster or sticker produced for it. Here are some that I was able to get this last year.

Governor Robert's 80th Birthday Party

Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts turned 80 with a special birthday party at Montgomery Park in December of 2016. It was packed with about 800 people. There were speeches, 2 other Governors of Oregon and 1 from Washington even. The Portland Trailblazers gifted her with a signed jersey. There was a photo station where you could have your photo taken in silly hats with a cardboard cut out of her. Most of all to Governor Roberts the whole event was a fundraiser for Compassion & Choices.

C&C is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving care and providing education to terminally ill patients and their families about end of life planning. A cause Roberts has been deeply passionate about for many years.

There were several items produced for the event, including an event program and button. Here is the full color program.

Favorite Oregon Obama 2008 Items

The hours on the Obama Administration are waning. He has a little over a week left in his presidency. The Trump Administration will begin shortly after Donald Trump takes the oath of office as is customary in our democracy. I thought it timely to start to look back at items from Barack Obama's campaigns in Oregon. You might have other favorite items and if you do, please share them! We will also share non Oregon items in another post.

I figured it would be good to start in 2008. From my collection, these are some of my favorites.

Oregon GOP Nominees 1986-2016

The following is a quick listing of all the Republican nominees for Oregon Governor for the last 30 years. Some of these individuals have been written about on our blog, some have not. Norma Paulus the 1986 nominee was recently featured as part of an in depth look back at the 1986 campaign in Portland Monthly by Brent Walth. He calls it 'Oregon's last epic' campaign. 

We decided to take a look at the items from the campaigns. We are still tracking items down, but as we find them we'll post an entry and link on this list.  The first image is just a nice preview of each of the campaigns from the last 30 years.