It became a talking point in a campaign for the mayor’s office when the then-incumbent, Frank Ivancie, sought to portray the gentleman in the photo — Bud Clark — as just a bit loopy and too “out there” to be mayor of a growing, progressive city such as Portland. Clark challenged Ivancie in 1984 — and won. Why? Because the residents of the city were taken aback by Ivancie’s attack against Clark, who used to run a popular watering hole/eatery near Portland State University, where I attended.

This picture was part of a promotion for art. It ran with the caption “Expose Yourself to Art.” It became all the rage in Portland that election year. Mayor Ivancie, I guess, thought the picture was in poor taste and sought to make a campaign issue of it. The voters in Portland thought quite differently.

I bring this up as a cautionary tale to Nevada Democrats who are going to portray Republican U.S. senatorial nominee Sharron Angle as too much of a political gadfly to be taken seriously in her race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Harry Reid.

Angle is a Tea Party favorite. She is the consummate “outsider” who is a champion of low taxes and smaller government. She also has said some goofy things, such as suggesting — albeit rather obliquely — that we ought to outlaw such “drugs” as alcohol. Dare we bring back Prohibition?

But the warning is out there to Nevada Democrats: Be careful how you go after Angle’s nuttiness. The voters in your state very well could react the same that voters in my hometown did when an establishment candidate for mayor, the incumbent, sought to demonize the upstart challenger.