Yesterday evening, my campaign committee (which is just my treasurer and me, keeping it simple) received donation number

400

in $5 accompanied by the required triplicate form, from registered Portland voters wanting to help me qualify for Public Campaign Financing by collecting 1000 such contributions. Citizens all over Portland are helping by talking with their friends and neighbors and filling out the paperwork with care, then bringing two copies and the cash/check to us in ones, twos, and more.

My parents arrived for a long-scheduled visit from England on Wednesday. And it's college football season. My sons and I have been avid Duck football fans since 1999. We purchased General Admission season tickets in 2000, and have rarely missed a home game since then. The amazing General Admission Family Pack deal (two adult and three child tickets for a total of $50 per game) meant that throughout Luke and Maxwell's high school years, we could take a couple of their friends and introduce them to the wonders of the Autzen Stadium experience, for $10 per person plus half a tank of gas driving there and back. Saturday, October 27, I will be at Autzen Stadium in Eugene with my parents and sons from 11 a.m. until the game ends.

We sit in GA section 1, under the jumbo scoreboard adjacent to the Oregon Marching Band. We arrive early to snag aisle seats, generally around row 25 - 30 right next to the trombone and trumpet section. I wear my yellow jacket .... I look considerably scruffier than when I'm campaigning, but I hope you'd recognize me (and my son Luke) from the photos on this blog, if you don't already know me. We'll be sitting with an elderly British couple probably looking bemused, and my 6' 5" son Maxwell who's returning from college late tonight.

I take my forms for accepting $5 donations from registered Portland voters EVERYWHERE. I don't leave home without them. And Luke is now a trained and proven solicitor who'll be sitting there in GA section 1, around row 28, if I wander off to buy a soft pretzel. So if you happen to be going to the game against USC, and happen to want to get your $5 donation into my tally posted Sunday morning, well, it sounds like it will be a great day for meeting and greeting at Autzen Stadium.

Just don't come over while the game is being played, I'll be too busy yelling.