Oh, geez… look what I’ve started. I post about Amanda Fritz’ bikey lawn sign delivery, and—not to be outdone—this lands in my inbox from the John Branam campaign:

CITY COUNCIL JOHN BRANAM CELEBRATES 300 LAWN SIGNS and A NEW THEME SONG

Last Thursday, March 6, the John Branam campaign planted its first lawn sign—and the first lawn sign of the city council campaign season.

Another 299 lawn signs were delivered (mostly by foot) over the weekend with a team of volunteers who were fueled by Voodoo Donuts. The signs are union-made, recyclable and quite possible edible (although we hereby issue a preemptive disclaimer on their taste and/or digestibility).

Also, the John Branam campaign is proud to announce its campaign theme song, “Lightning” by the Retrofits. Lead by keyboardist and 2000 mayoral candidate Jake Oken-Berg, the Retrofits can be caught this Friday at the Doug Fir.

Anybody else?

Speaking of Branam and Fritz! A Branam supporter reports she was polled last night by McGuire Research about the race to replace Sam Adams on the city council.

The most interesting thing about the poll? After identifying the candidates in that race—Fritz, Branam, Chris Smith, Jeff Bissonnette, and Charles Lewis, but not Mike Fahey—and asking whether the voter’s views were favorable or unfavorable, the pollster said “‘Wow, you’re the first person I’ve talked to who’s actually had a clue,’” says the voter she called—who asked that her name not be used, so as not to get the pollster who went off script into trouble. “That to me was pretty telling.”

Indeed, I wonder what it says about how the national presidential election is overshadowing our just as interesting—if not more so—local races.

More about the poll after the cut!

Other than the infamous Dozono poll, I believe this may be the first poll commissioned by a publicly financed candidate. Given the limited funds a publicly financed candidate has—and the hefty bill a pollster can deliver—it's interesting to see what's asked, and how valuable the answers might be to a candidate running in a race packed with five solid publicly financed candidates.

The poll's questions—which took about 15 minutes to answer—were positive.

"She went through and said a sentence about each of the candidate's backgrounds, asked if I knew such and such about these people would I find them more favorable, less favorable, the same," says the voter—who, as someone supporting Branam, paid close attention to the questions. Lewis was pegged as someone who started a non-profit after school program, and Smith as a high tech employee focused on improving transportation,. Branam was acknowledged as a fundraiser for Portland Public Schools, and Fritz a nurse, community activist, and former member of the planning commission.

"After that, she went through that series of questions, another serious of questions on all of the candidates, their mission statements or key position policy statements," the voter says. "John's was improving public education and getting more city council involvement in Portland Public Schools

Here's where the poll started leaning toward one candidate in particular, the voter says. "Everyone else was like one short thing, and Amanda's was ten ideas encapsulated into one sentence. After that they went into about 10 different statements about Amanda Fritz specifically. If you knew she was considered a leader by her peers for her work in the planning commission. That she helped create four new parks in Portland."

The voter says that the poll, though it seemed to clearly lean toward Fritz—"I asked who was paying for it, and [the pollster] said she didn't know," the voter says—the poll never veered into the negative.

She was also asked if she supported Mayor Tom Potter, and if she were to vote today, who'd she vote for.

A volunteer at the Fritz office confirmed it was a Fritz poll, though the campaign's spokesperson wasn't available. Once I hear back from him, I'll update if he's willing to share any more information about the poll, like how many people were called.

UPDATE @ 8pm: "We'll have the poll info out when it has been completed and analyzed," campaign spokesperson Bill Michtom says via email. "As usual, if it's from Amanda, it's clear and honest."