Salem's Rotunda Is Occupied...With Holiday Music

A choir performs at the state capitol in Salem.

You just can't help but marvel at the contrast between Salem and Olympia this week. My colleague Austin Jenkins has been chronicling the unfolding drama as protests and arrests have marked the tense opening days of a high-stakes special session in Olympia. In Salem, meanwhile, the rotunda was filled with holiday music and an abundance of felicity. Even Occupy Salem, which had staked out the west end of the capitol grounds since early October, packed up and left peacefully this week--but not before holding a cleaning party. (Indeed, in advance of today's deadline to leave, issued by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, it's nearly impossible to tell that anyone was camping out on the capitol grounds over the past two months.)

Of course, there are some holiday activities planned in Olympia, where Christmas has at times been a bit of a touchy subject. And Salem won't make it through the winter without its own dose of politics: Lawmakers will return to the capitol in February for a month-long session, in the face of an ever-bleaker revenue outlook.