I don’t think the Governor liked my question.

Tonight was billed as “An Evening with Governor Howard Dean”, held at the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon. The food was pretty good! Salmon, crab cakes, chicken-kabobs, grilled vegetables, cheese, fruit…mm yum! We spent the first half hour or so eating buffet style, getting to know other Democrats.

The first speaker was former Governor Barbara Roberts and she gave us one of her patented pep talks, reminding us to vote for Measures 49 and 50. She was followed by Meredith Wood Smith, chairman of the Oregon Democratic Party. Besides pumping us up for Gov. Dean’s upcoming talk she also introduced a few of our local candidates. To my surprise, one is an old friend who’ll make a terrific member of the State House. I met up with him later and signed on to his campaign.

Meredith finished up her remarks and introduced Gov. Dean, who entered from the side door like a rock star. That’s when I started taking notes.