About The Stump

By Jerry Casey, The Oregonian

August 15, 2008, 11:24AM

The Stump is designed to be a platform for provocative and thoughtful discussions about the issues of Oregon, the Northwest and beyond.

The name harkens back not only to the old stories of political candidates standing atop sawed-off stumps to deliver speeches, but also to Portland's nickname, "Stumptown." That name stems from the late 1800s, when Portland grew so fast that busy crews left behind the stumps from the trees they cleared for new streets and roads. Some stumps remained so long that locals painted them white to make them more visible, and used them to cross streets without sinking into mud.

This blog is produced by The Oregonian's Editorial Board, a group of the newspaper's opinion writers and editors, and is meant to prompt readers to share their ideas and arguments about politics, culture and other civic issues in the Portland metropolitan area, and throughout Oregon and the Northwest. The site includes an online letters to the editor blog, My Oregon, where readers are encouraged to start their own conversations on issues.

To start the discussions, The Stump regularly features The Oregonian's editorials, columns, letters to the editor, the work of cartoonist, Jack Ohman, and the writings of columnists Susan Nielsen and David Sarasohn. It also includes the many local and national writers who contribute to the newspaper, and it regularly guides readers to interesting political discussions on other Northwest blogs.

You are invited to step up on The Stump, and join the conversations about Oregon.