Democratic Oregon Rep. David Wu appears to be taking steps towards a political comeback only a month after revelations concerning his erratic behavior surfaced.
Photos of Wu in a tiger suit and subsequent concerns over the congressman’s mental health emanating from his own staff members inspired a media feeding-frenzy and raised doubts over whether Wu was fit to continue to serve in Congress.
Over the last several days, Wu has been conducting one-on-one meetings with constituents, though many of them are political supporters that have been invited by Wu’s office to meet with the congressman.
Not surprisingly, The Oregonian reports that most of these constituents “didn’t know or didn’t care about the details that landed the seven-term congressman in the public eye.”
Jim Moore, a political science professor at Pacific University, told the Oregonian that “the one-on-one thing is a little weird but you can see why he doesn’t want necessarily to get caught up in a town hall confrontation.” Wu staffers claim, however, town halls will be scheduled in the future.
Wu is beginning to make public appearances again, giving a subdued two-minute speech at an event with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in Portland on Tuesday.
He will celebrate his birthday Wednesday night by hosting a $100 per plate fundraiser in an effort to build-up his campaign war chest in what political analysts believe will be a difficult reelection race in 2012, even though Wu has been comfortably reelected in previous election cycles.