Every so often, someone wonders what Robert Packwood - the former Oregon senator who resigned in 1995 ahead of possible expulsion over sex harassment charges - is up to, and what he might think of politics today.
The question is worth asking, because among the other things he was, Packwood was a brilliant political strategist and (like the more often-noted Mark Hatfield) overall a centrist Republican in a day when the party would nominate them.
Willamette Week caught up with Packwood, who spends part of his time in a suburb south of Portland, and has up an interview with him. Recommended reading.
One quote. Asked about the condition now of the Oregon Republican Party, which hasn't won a statewide race since 2002: "The nice thing about political parties is that eventually they like to win. So, sooner or later, either the party changes so that it can win, or it disappears."