Invites to Portland's exclusive candidate forums have been hard to come by for Portland's lesser known mayoral candidates, so Jessie Sponberg's organizing his own. It's a sleepover.

Sponberg, a well-known local activist, announced today he's gotten approval from campers at Hazelnut Grove to hold a "mayoral candidate slumber party" at the organized homeless encampment on Saturday, February 27.

"There's a huge disconnect between the haves and have-nots in Portland," Sponberg says. "The role of the mayor should be to find cohesiveness within the community and bridge that disconnect."

It's the type of move that can be expected of Sponberg—who in the past has dumped a truckload of coats and blankets for the homeless in the middle of W Burnside, and helped spur the "Camp Cascadia" protest against Portland disconnecting its open-air drinking reservoirs. But whether it will get traction remains to be seen.

Sponberg says he's already gotten two candidates, Sean Davis and David Schor, to sign onto the idea (Davis hasn't independently confirmed that yet). As we reported in this week's issue, the three men have formed a loose alliance as they push for entrée into a race that, so far, has been focused on state Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey. Sponberg says he'll personally invite the remaining candidates "as soon as possible."

If the slumber party's sort of a stunt, it's also topical. Mayor Charlie Hales' office has shown a willingness to sanction organized camping as a stopgap measure while the city bolsters its housing and services. There are already two formal agreements with camps in the works, and that landscape is likely to change further when Hales unveils a new policy on homeless camping in coming days.

All of which means sites like Hazelnut Grove will be a big part of the conversation in the mayor's race. So far, both Wheeler and Bailey have been ambivalent. Wheeler's put much of his focus on more homeless shelters, and during a visit to Hazelnut Grove last month said he was "struggling with the idea that we're allowing people to live outside in the elements."

Bailey, meanwhile, has been beating the drum for a strategy being worked up by the A Home For Everyone coalition.

"It’s a question of resources," Bailey told the Mercury recently, when asked about his stance on city-sanctioned encampments. "Our time and our energy is better spend trying to make sure that we have as many partners in the community to provide shelter space as possible."

It'll be interesting to see if either man accepts the invitation to spend a night at Hazelnut Grove (Bailey, when we spoke to him, hadn't even visited). Sponberg, who's planning to formally roll out his campaign this afternoon at Mt. Tabor Park, says he'll invite them soon—and couldn't resist a dig at Wheeler, a millionaire who's considered the race's frontrunner (though there aren't any polls backing that up).

"Ted Wheeler's climbed Mount Everest—I'm sure he'll be fine," Sponberg said. "But there won't be any sherpas to carry his bags for him."