In Portland, if nothing else, they do things the Portland way. So when Uber came to town and tried to push its way in, past the artisanal brewpubs and fairtrade coffeehouses, it looked like it might be a decent fight. But such a view fails to take into account Uber’s political muscle which gives them an insurmountable home field advantage on the streets of any town. Uber “has 250 lobbyists and 29 lobbying firms registered in capitols around the nation, at least a third more than Wal-Mart Stores. That doesn’t count municipal lobbyists. In Portland, the 28th-largest city in the U.S., 10 people would ultimately register to lobby on Uber’s behalf. They’d become a constant force in City Hall. City officials say they’d never seen anything on this scale.” Bloomberg’s Karen Weise explains how Uber takes over a city.