Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) Elected May 1996, 5th full term
Born:	Aug. 16, 1948, Portland
Home:	Portland
Education:	Lewis & Clark Col., B.A. 1970, J.D. 1976
Religion:	no religious affiliation
Marital Status:	married (Margaret)
Elected  Office:	OR House of Reps., 1972-78; Multnomah Cnty. Comm., 1978-86; Portland City Cncl., 1986-96.
Professional Career:	Asst. to Pres., Portland St. U., 1970-77.
DC Office	2446 RHOB20515, 202-225-4811; Fax: 202-225-8941; Web site: www.house.gov/blumenauer
State Offices	Portland, 503-231-2300.
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Portland, the Rose City set between Mount Hood to the east and the Tualatin Mountains to the west, spanning the Willamette River with its airport and industrial back to the Columbia, is still one of America's least known major cities--and one of its most distinctive. For most of its history Portland was a prosaic city in a magic setting; it was in many ways a muscular, blue-collar town, which piled Oregon lumber and Oregon pears into freight cars, or unloaded machines from back East or autos from Japan on its docks. But in the past three decades Portland has been transformed. Out on the Pacific Rim, it increasingly makes its living on foreign trade, seeing East Asians as customers more than competitors. It has become a home of high-tech industries, particularly in the Washington County suburbs to the west--Silicon Forest. Government has also produced change. Oregon's land-use act, passed in 1973, required local governments to set geographic limits on growth; Metro, the regional government established in 1979 just as growth was accelerating, has created something of a counterweight against the endless spread outward of population into former farmland. With its first light-rail service, Portland encouraged the development of high-density commercial space and housing around transit stops; bicycle paths wind throughout the metropolitan area, and downtown, west of the Willamette River, boasts proud postmodern structures amid classic masonry buildings. In May 2003, Multnomah County voters approved a referendum for a local income tax to pay for schools and services.

In the process, the central city of Portland, like San Francisco and Seattle, has attracted political and cultural liberals. And, like those two cities, Portland has its share of traffic congestion and high home prices. This "livable community" was rated the best city to live in by Money magazine in 2000 and its long-term approach to transportation, creating mixed-use neighborhoods and increasing development density, may ultimately pay off. But its national ranking has declined, with more than 50,000 lost jobs in the Portland area and, for a time, one of the nation's highest unemployment rates for a metropolitan region, due partly to the dot-com bust and perhaps exacerbated by excessive controls on growth.

The 3d Congressional District of Oregon includes the part of Portland and Multnomah County east of the Willamette River and part of suburban Clackamas County to the south. It extends over suburban plains and hills to the splendid scenery of Mount Hood high in the Cascades and the Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River Gorge. Politically, it remains dominated by a cultural liberalism, which sets Portland apart even from its suburbs and the rest of Oregon. In 2000 Multnomah County voted 64%-28% for Al Gore with 7% for Ralph Nader; in 2004, with turnout up 22%, it voted 72%-27% for John Kerry.

The congressman from the 3d District is Earl Blumenauer, who won a special election in May 1996 to replace Ron Wyden after he was elected to the Senate. Blumenauer grew up in Portland, graduated from Lewis and Clark College and its Northwestern Law School. He was inspired by the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements while in his teens; in 1969, in college, he headed a statewide campaign to lower Oregon's voting age. He has held public office almost all his adult life. In 1972, at 23, he was elected to the Oregon House; in 1978 he was elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners; in 1986 he was elected to the Portland City Council. In these offices he has championed many of the policies that have made Portland distinctive--regional light rail transit, curbside recycling, land use planning. He encouraged bike riding and Regional Rail Summits, which try to bring neighborhood residents into the planning for higher densities at transit nodes. Blumenauer has had some setbacks, notably when he lost the 1992 mayoral race. But after Wyden won the Senate race, he was the obvious successor. He won the special election 68%-25%. His campaign slogan: "Vote Earl, Vote Often."

In the House, Blumenauer has a liberal voting record and a distinctive agenda. He rides his bicycle everywhere from his Capitol Hill apartment, and formed a Bicycle Caucus with more than 100 members; he fought for showers for bike commuters on Capitol Hill and boasts that he has never driven a car in Washington. He was astonished to find that the House subsidized parking for employees, but not mass transit; now, employees can get subsidized transit fares. He is interested in what seem like quixotic projects now, but may not be in a few years: An interstate highway system for bicycle paths, development of ''livable communities'' on the sites of Denver's closed Stapleton Airport and closed military bases, less dependence on driving as a tool to improve public health. On the big energy bill in 2003, the House approved his amendment for a bicycling pilot program in the Transportation Department, including the feasibility of converting auto trips to bicycle trips. He demands that the Army Corps of Engineers show greater concern for the environment. Blumenauer has actively promoted trade across the Pacific--a key element of Portland's economy. He supported normal trade relations with China but he joined the 90% of House Democrats who opposed trade promotion authority in 2002.

Blumenauer proudly terms Portland a model for the future of the city. And he has taken his gospel of livability and civic values elsewhere, through his Livable Cities Task Force (more than 50 members) and his own political action committee. Lately, he has stepped up his political activity. He seriously considered running for mayor of Portland in 2004, but surprised some local Democrats when he decided instead that the city needs "strong, effective leadership" in Congress. In the 2004 presidential campaign, he endorsed John Kerry before the Iowa caucuses and worked actively for him. On Capitol Hill, he became a vigorous national Democratic fundraiser. In his safe seat, Blumenauer has won reelection handily.

Committees

• International Relations (15th of 23 D): Asia & the Pacific; Oversight & Investigations.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (14th of 34 D): Highways, Transit & Pipelines; Railroads; Water Resources & Environment.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	95	89	100	100	70	11	26	9	0	8	--
2003	100	--	100	85	--	30	27	12	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	79%	--	20%		79%	--	21%
Social	84%	--	13%		88%	--	0%
Foreign	84%	--	14%		93%	--	7%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning N		7. Restrict Gun Liability N  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds Y 12. Intelligence Reorg. N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Earl Blumenauer (D)	245,559	71%	$701,713
	Tami Mars (R)	82,045	24%
	Other	18,956	5%
2004 primary	Earl Blumenauer (D)	76,811	89%
	John Sweeney (D)	9,207	11%
2002 general	Earl Blumenauer (D)	156,851	67%	$353,543
	Sarah Seale (R)	62,821	27%
	Other	15,305	7%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (67%); 1998 (84%); 1996 (67%); 1996 (68%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 242,075 (67%) Bush (R) 118,442 (33%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 176,831 (61%) Bush (R) 93,213 (32%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Third District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D +18
• District Size: 1,054 square miles
• Population in 2000: 684,279; 93.1% urban; 6.9% rural
• Median Household Income: $42,063; 11.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 24.6% blue collar; 59.4% white collar; 16.0% gray collar; 13.1% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 77.2% White, 5.2% Black, 5.4% Asian, 0.9% Amer. Indian, 0.3% Hawaiian, 3.3% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 7.6% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 14.5% German, 8.7% Irish, 8.4% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.