STUDENTS WOULD ELECT KITZHABER, EASE UP ON POT

SALEM - If Oregon teen-agers are an accurate gauge of public opinion,
Gov. John Kitzhaber will be re-elected, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley
will keep her U.S. House seat and marijuana tolerance will prevail.

That's according to results of a mock election held this week at 108
Oregon middle and high schools. The vote tallies were revealed
Thrusday in a press conference at the Capitol.

" I hope this has some impact on adults," said Katie Baker, 16, a
junior at Cresent Valley High School in Corvallis. " Even though we
can't vote , we will soon."

The simulated election gave teens a chance to pick four candidates and
four ballot measures. And just like the real thing, one of those
initiatives - Measure 61 - wasn't counted because it has been
disqualified by the Oregon Supreme Court.

Roughly 15,000 ballots from Tuesday's mock vote were tallied,
officials said.

I've got a hunch that our numbers are going to come out to be pretty
close to what we see in the county and the state," said Gerald
Schierling, who teaches government at Gervias High School.

Statewide, students chose Gov. Kitzhaber by a comfortable margin over
challenger Bill Sizemore. But the spread wasn't nearly the landslide
that some pollsters have predicted for Tuesday's election.

Students leaned toward leniency in the two marijuana measures on the
ballot. As they see it, marijuana should be available for medical
purposes, and possession of less than an ounce of the drug shouldn't
be upgraded to a misdemeanor.

" I don't think that marijuana is one of our worst problems," said
13-year old Kira Lesley of Trinity Lutheran School in Portland. " We
should be focusing on criminals who are hurting other people besides
themselves."

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady