My name is Bill, and I'm a partisan hack

That might as well be the first sentence of any press release from Bill Bradbury when he officially announces his candidacy for the Oregon governorship. He told the Oregonian on Monday that he will "likely" run for governor in 2010, but in the process he practically admitted he's as left-wing as they come.

Here are the second and third paragraphs of the O's story from Tuesday:

Bradbury, a delegate to the Democratic convention, said he will likely run for governor in 2010, particularly if the state's voters reject an initiative that would create a non-partisan primary system. Gov. Ted Kulongoski will be ending his two terms in office and cannot run again.

"It's really a slam dunk if we keep our current primary system and it's a very strong possibility if we move to a different primary system," said Bradbury, who believes he has particularly deep support among Democratic voters.

Translation:

The Blue Oregon crowd will support me because they know I share their ultra-liberal bonafides. They've seen how I've monkeyed with ballot titles and signatures for the issues we don't like, and they know they'll get more of the same partisanship if I'm the governor. And really, that's all I need to win the primary nomination under the current system. Alas, I'll have a harder time getting past the primary if those pesky independents and wrong-headed conservatives can participate, but I still think I can sneak by because there are lots of people who know my name but not my track record.

I know there are some conservatives who think a Bradbury candidacy clears the way for a reasonable conservative, but I would refer those people to the last sentence of my translation. There are many people who figure Bill Bradbury has been the secretary of state for the last eight years, so he must be OK. And, when Republicans point out his partisan tendencies, those same voters will chalk it up to more partisanship.

I'm not a supporter of the open primary idea, but this is a point in its favor.