{{Short description|American political consultant}} {{Infobox person | name = Kari Chisholm | image = Karichisholm.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date and age|July 2, 1973}} | alma_mater = University of Southern California (BA) | known_for = Founder of BlueOregon | political_party = Democratic | spouse = Carrie Wynkoop | children = 1 }}
'''Kari Chisholm''' (born July 2, 1973) is an American political consultant and sports commentator based in Portland, Oregon. He became known for commentary on the Heisman Trophy, and his now-defunct site StiffArmTrophy.com correctly predicted the winner of the trophy every year from 2002 to 2012. He is the co-founder and publisher of BlueOregon, a defunct blog.
== Career == ===Political consultancy and BlueOregon=== In 2004, Chisholm, Jeff Alworth, and Jesse Cornett co-founded BlueOregon, a progressive blog that covered the politics of the U.S. state of Oregon.<ref name=Davis2009>{{cite news |last=Davis|first=Matt |date=December 18, 2009 |title=Jesse Cornett Files For Saltzman's Seat |url=https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2009/12/18/1990416/jesse-cornett-files-for-saltzmans-seat |work=Portland Mercury |access-date=February 25, 2023}}</ref> Chisholm was one of the site's three main editors and was described as the "den mother of the political blog" by the ''Willamette Week''.<ref name=Jaquiss2008>{{cite news |last=Jaquiss |first=Nigel |date=April 22, 2008 |title=Blue Flames |url=https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-8866-blue-flames.html |work=Willamette Week |access-date=February 25, 2023}}</ref><ref name=Contributors>{{cite web|title=Contributors |work=BlueOregon |url=https://www.blueoregon.com/authors/ |accessdate=February 25, 2023}}</ref> Chisholm stated that he and other tech-savvy activists wanted smaller regional political blogs like BlueOregon to play as a prominent a role at the state level as large blogs already did at the national level.<ref name="rg-5Nov06">{{cite web |last=Steves |first=David |title=Bloggers find new clout in state politics. |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |date=November 5, 2006 |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Bloggers+find+new+clout+in+state+politics.-a0154112061|accessdate=February 25, 2023 |via=The Free Library}}</ref>
By 2006 the site was the top-read Oregon political blog, with 3,000 to 4,000 readers a day around election season.<ref name="rg-5Nov06"/> An article in ''The Register-Guard'' stated that "[b]logs such as Chisholm's have been a place where Democratic activists have been able to find out where and how they can help their party's candidates. [...] And where those willing to get up from their computers can go to make phone calls or go door-knocking on behalf of candidates."<ref name="rg-5Nov06"/>
By 2008 the site was generating 9,000 page views a day and editors were credentialed for floor access to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.<ref name=Jaquiss2008/><ref name="bo-22aug08">{{cite web | author=Blueoregon admin|title=BlueOregon: Headed to Denver |publisher=BlueOregon |date=August 22, 2008 |url=http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/08/blueoregon-head.html |accessdate=December 21, 2008}}</ref> By 2010, the site featured more than 30 regular contributors,<ref name=ContributorsArchive>{{cite web|title=Contributors |work=BlueOregon |url=https://www.blueoregon.com/authors/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418043032/https://www.blueoregon.com/authors/ |via=WayBack Machine |accessdate=February 25, 2023|archive-date=2010-04-18 }}</ref> and Chisholm and other editors were regularly quoted in local political stories by ''The Oregonian'', the state's largest newspaper.<ref name="Oregonian-25Oct08">{{cite web |last=Attig |first=Rick |title=Salmon and dams, open primaries and voters |newspaper=The Oregonian |date=October 28, 2008 |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2008/10/salmon_and_dams_open_primaries.html |accessdate=March 27, 2018}}</ref><ref name=Mapes2009>{{cite news |last=Mapes |first=Jeff |title=Schrader a "Blue Dog," but is he really part of the pack? |newspaper=The Oregonian |date=December 17, 2009 |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2009/12/schrader_a_blue_dog_but_is_he.html |accessdate=February 25, 2023}}</ref><ref name=Lane2006>{{cite news |last=Lane |first=Dee |title=Minnis Cartoon Disappears |newspaper=The Oregonian |date=September 22, 2006 |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2006/09/minnis_cartoon_disappears.html|accessdate=February 25, 2023}}</ref> During this period of growth for BlueOregon, Chisholm served as a political consultant and operated website development company Mandate Media, which provided digital services to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and Gov. Ted Kulongoski, and to the campaigns of then-U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley, then-secretary of state candidate Kate Brown, then-congressional candidate Kurt Schrader, and then-Portland mayoral candidate Sam Adams.<ref name=Jaquiss2008/> In 2008, Jake Weigler, a BlueOregon contributor and campaign manager for Senate candidate Steve Novick, published a post on the site alleging that BlueOregon's coverage of the race was biased towards the Merkley campaign and that Chisholm had a clear conflict of interest.<ref name=Mapes2008>{{cite news |last=Mapes |first=Jeff |title=Blue Oregon a little black-and-blue today |newspaper=The Oregonian |date=March 11, 2008 |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2008/03/blue_oregon_a_little_black_and.html |accessdate=February 25, 2023}}</ref><ref name=Weigler>{{cite web|title=Refusing to play a rigged game |work=BlueOregon |date=March 11, 2008 |url=https://www.blueoregon.com/2008/03/this-is-a-diffi/ |accessdate=February 25, 2023}}</ref> "It's pretty transparent that [BlueOregon] is being used as window dressing and as a mouthpiece for the Merkley campaign," Weigler told ''The Oregonian''.<ref name=Mapes2008/>
Other campaigns expressed similar complaints about coverage, and reporting in the ''Willamette Week'' detailed "ample evidence" that BlueOregon has "posted pieces that portray Chisholm's paying clients favorably."<ref name=Jaquiss2008/> "I'm not a journalist and don't pretend to be," Chisholm later told the paper, "but I work hard to get all voices out there."<ref name=Jaquiss>{{cite news |last=Jaquiss |first=Nigel |date=October 11, 2011 |title=Sins of Omission |url=https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-18067-sins-of-omission.html |work=Willamette Week |access-date=February 6, 2023}}</ref>
Between 2006 and 2011, Chisholm was paid nearly $400,000 by state and local Democratic candidates.<ref name=Jaquiss/>
Chisholm last posted on BlueOregon in 2020, and the site has not been updated since.<ref name=Chisholm>{{cite web|title=Sign the petition: We need vote by mail for all |work=BlueOregon |date=April 26, 2020 |url=https://www.blueoregon.com/2020/04/sign-petition-we-need-vote-mail-all/ |accessdate=February 25, 2023}}</ref>
In 2023 Chisholm was selected to serve on a committee to draft the district lines which would form the geographic basis of Portland's new form of government.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zielinski |first1=Alex |title=Portland creates group to draw district lines for new form of government |url=https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/25/portland-oregon-new-form-structure-government-geographic-districts-measure-commission-/ |website=opb.org |publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting |access-date=15 February 2023}}</ref>
== Personal life == He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and their son.<ref name="mandate">{{cite web|title=Our team|url=http://www.mandatemedia.com/our-team/|accessdate=2011-06-26|publisher=Mandate Media}}</ref><ref name="lor">{{cite news|last=Mayer|first=Rebecca|date=January 22, 2009|title=Obama ushers in new era|newspaper=Lake Oswego Review|url=http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=43371|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201300/http://portlandtribune.com/component/content/article?id=43371|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2016|accessdate=June 27, 2011}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm, Kari}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:American political writers Category:Lewis & Clark College people Category:University of Southern California alumni Category:Writers from Portland, Oregon Category:People from Lake Oswego, Oregon Category:Lake Oswego High School alumni