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Posts published in “Day: April 20, 2007”

Elsewhere

April 20, 2007

Micron TechnologyAthink piece in the current Business Week magazine points out that corporate spending is continuing to grow, but that "just increasingly outside the U.S. A BusinessWeek analysis of financial reports from more than 1,000 large and midsize U.S.-based companies shows that global capital expenditures in the fourth quarter of 2006 were actually up 18.1% over the previous year, a number that includes nonresidential construction as well as info-tech equipment and machinery. The comparable growth for domestic business investment, which is all the government reports each quarter: only 8.9%, without adjusting for inflation."

Which would be notable but not Northwest-oriented except that one of the handful of corporations the article highlights is Boise-based Micron Technology, on which a large chunk of the Boise-area economy is reliant. And whose CEO, Steve Appleton, is quoted as saying, "I don't have to hire one more person in the U.S. I don't have to invest one more dollar here - and we'll be just fine."

Back at Boise, where two years ago talk of the town was of a prospective new billion-dollar Micron production operation (not yet materialized), the Idaho Statesman has asked Micron for some further explanation of its growth plans. No response as yet, the paper reports.

After DeFazio . . .

April 20, 2007
Peter DeFazio
Peter DeFazio

We can't say we were surprised with word this morning that Representative Peter DeFazio shut the door - for the last time, apparently - on calls for him to run next year against Republican Senator Gordon Smith.

The Oregonian did quote him as saying, "This was not an easy decision. You don't get a poll that shows you're ahead of an incumbent senator and generous offers of support from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and just blow it off. It was a long and serious deliberation on my part."

So - next?

Democratic activist Steve Novick, the wonkish and sharp-tongued and witty ("hard left hook" is a neat line) political activist from Portland, has already announced; but as a first-time candidate (albeit plenty of experience in political circles) a number of Democrats are still looking for their nominee.

Earl Blumenauer
Earl Blumenauer

Attention turns next to Representative Earl Blumenauer, who represents the central Portland district and may be the most liberal member of the Oregon delegation. Blumenauer has made some moves in recent years toward statewide visibility (buying TV time in places like Bend, for example), and he's a solid and experienced campaigner - his years in electoral politics probably extend deeper than anyone now active as a candidate on the state or federal level. He would be a strong contender, and unlike DeFazio, he does not seem to have turned down the idea of a Senate (though he has apparently deferred to a DeFazio candidacy should it happen).

So, on the Senate front, watch Blumenauer closely in the next couple of weeks. He seems to be next at bat, and his self-imposed bar to deciding on the race is now removed.