Oregon Public Broadcasting

One more candidate is expected to enter next year's U.S. Senate race against incumbent Oregon Republican Gordon Smith.  As Colin Fogarty reports, the new contender is an independent with a familiar name.

John Frohnmayer is a liberal arts professor at Oregon State University.  He's the brother of the University of Oregon President and former state Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer.

Back in the late 1980's, John Frohnmayer headed the National Endowment for the Arts under the first President Bush, raising the ire of the religious right for grants to controversial artists.

Frohnmayer is registered with the Independent Party of Oregon and defines himself as a “raging moderate”.

John Frohnmayer: "The political system is so dysfunctional that we ought to be outraged, to the extent that we are looking for different solutions because business as usual is not good enough."

Frohnmayer declined to confirm he is in fact running for the U.S. Senate.  But he's scheduled a multi-city tour of Oregon next week and his office voicemail at one point identified itself as “Frohnmayer for Senate”.