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    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 18th on 14:05

    These are my links for April 18th from 14:05 to 14:09:

    • Oregon Democrat David "Tiger Costume" Wu Gets A Primary Challenge – Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) officially has a Democratic challenger, as state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian announced Monday that he will run against the embattled congressman in the 1st District Democratic primary.

      "My name is Brad Avakian and I'm running to be Northwest Oregon's next Congressman," Avakian said in a statement posted on his website. "This race is about two things: what our community needs and how it can be best represented."

      Avakian has reportedly been frequently mentioned as a potential candidate against Wu. The Willamette Week reported earlier this month that Avakian hired Jake Weigler, who managed Sen. Ron Wyden's (D) 2010 reelection campaign, as his political adviser.

      "I love my current job — helping Oregon businesses succeed and protecting the rights of all Oregonians. But these are principles that my district needs an effective representative to pursue in Congress," Avakian added.

      Avakian was elected to the Oregon House in 2002 and to the Oregon Senate in 2006, according to his biography on the state's Bureau of Labor and Industries website. He was first appointed Labor Commissioner in April 2008 to fill a vacancy, and was elected to a full term in November 2008.
      Wu's strange behavior became public when the Oregonian published a report in February outlining his erratic behavior leading up to the 2010 election. Wu's staff confronted him about his behavior and urged him to get medical attention. In one strange episode, Wu emailed his staff in the middle of the night, sending photos of himself in a tiger costume for Halloween.

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      And, Oregon will elect a new Congressman in 2012.

    • On Bill Rusher – By John O’Sullivan at National Review – When I came to National Review as editor in 1988, I knew Bill Rusher only slightly. We had met at a conference in South Africa twelve or so years before, and though I had enjoyed his company and conversation, I felt him to be a somewhat distant figure. He seemed a type one then encountered quite often in American conservative circles — the civil but cool and reserved gentleman. To less senior staff figures in NR he was always known respectfully as “Mr. Rusher.” I guessed he would need some knowing before we got onto first-name terms.

      I was quite wrong. He was friendly and helpful from the start; he encouraged me to take risks in changing the magazine in line with my own editorial vision; he smoothed my path socially with dinner invitations and advice on how to handle especially difficult colleagues (names on request). He was relaxed about the reshaping of the magazine he had helped WFB to shape in part because he had already mapped out his own departure from it. But I realized after a time that he also approved of most of what we were doing. About six months after Wick Allison had replaced him as publisher, Bill told a meeting that he thought the magazine was better than it had ever been. I was not so foolish as to take such praise literally, but I did draw two conclusions about Bill from it: first, that he was a very generous man, second that he was far more lively, open, and (in the good sense) progressive in his thinking than his reserved demeanor might deceptively suggest.

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      Another excellent Obit for william Rusher, former Publisher of the Natioanl Review.