An Important Message from Barack Obama

In New Ad, Barack Obama Says Jeff Merkley is the Change Oregon Needs

Senator Barack Obama is delivering an important message to all Oregonians about Jeff Merkley, candidate for U.S. Senate. In a new television ad from the Merkley campaign, Senator Obama says that Jeff Merkley will help change Washington and get America back on track.

Born in the small town of Myrtle Creek, Oregon, Speaker Jeff Merkley and his family followed the timber economy first to Roseburg and then to Portland after his father's timber mill closed down. Merkley earned scholarships and became the first in his family to go to college. He then served as a national security analyst, first for the Pentagon and Congress.

Merkley later returned to Oregon with his wife Mary, a registered nurse, and led Habitat for Humanity, became President of the World Affairs Council, and ran for the Legislature.

Two years ago, he became the first Democratic Speaker of the Oregon House in sixteen years. The Oregonian called Merkley's session as Speaker, "the most productive in a generation."

Speaker Merkley has two children, Jonathan age twelve and Brynne age ten.

In his campaign for U.S. Senate, Jeff Merkley has traveled to more than 100 towns across Oregon, beginning in Myrtle Creek, the timber town where he was born. He's listened to Oregonians and laid out plans to change the direction of the country. In every town Merkley has heard from middle class families just like his own, who are struggling in this economy and demanding that we put fairness back in the system.

Jeff Merkley has plans to work with Barack Obama to:

• Cut taxes for 95 percent of working families and provide additional tax cuts to help families care for their children, care for their seniors, send their child to college, and purchase their first home;

• Create good-paying jobs by investing in infrastructure, ending tax and trade policies that ship jobs overseas, and seizing Oregon's potential to produce renewable energy and green-collar jobs; and

• Provide universal health care to every man, woman, and child, helping Oregon businesses compete again.

In Oregon Jeff Merkley balanced the budget, established the rainy day fund, and cut taxes for working people. More about Merkley's economic plans can be found at his web site, www.jeffmerkley.com.

Script: "Important Message"

Voiceover:

I'm Jeff Merkley and I approve this message.

Posted October 25, 2008
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