Auseful explanatory piece in Willamette Week explains something a number of Interstate 5 drivers in Oregon have noticed: Almost all the signs along the busiest roadways are for Republican candidates, notably gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton.
Does this mean that area is overwhelmingly Republican? Not exactly.
The paper notes, "even if Kulongoski had his signs ready to go, the man who dominates Interstate 5 between here and Salem, along with many of the busiest thoroughfares in Clackamas and Yamhill counties, wouldn't put them up. 'I just do this for people who can further the conservative Republican agenda,' says Cliff Zauner, a retired two-term state representative from Woodburn. 'I wouldn't do it for Kulongoski for any amount of money.' Except for a single Kulongoski sign and eight that Democratic House candidate Chuck Leesnuck placed near Salem , Zauner has given Republicans a lock on the well-traveled central I-5 corridor."
The paper adds, "The signs Zauner erects along I-205, and highways 224 and 212 in Clackamas County, are the result of a long friendship with one of the area's largest property owners, Terry Emmert."