Sound and Fury: Gordon Smith is REALLY afraid of Jeff Merkley

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 16, 2008

Over at local Oregon blog Sound and Fury, Dade Cariaga discovers Gordon Smith's very obvious concern about having to face Jeff Merkley in the general election:

Well, well, well. Gordie showed his hand by revealing who it is that he does not want to run against this fall. Merkley got you looking over your shoulder, Senator? It sure made me glad that I cast my vote for Merkley. And the idea that Gordie Smith would try to admonish someone else for hypocrisy and inconsistency is rich indeed.

Read the rest at Sound and Fury.

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Talking Points Memo: New ad suggests Smith is vulnerable and afraid of Merkley

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 15, 2008

Eric Kleefeld of the highly popular and well-respected Talking Points Memo Election Central blog, sees the obvious with Smith's latest attack ad:

If this new attack ad from GOP Senator Gordon Smith is any indication, he may recognize that he's facing a tough reelection fight and that the Dems have a shot at picking up this plum Oregon Senate seat this fall.

What's particularly interesting about this attack ad is that Smith doesn't know who is opponent is yet.

Jeff Merkley, the state House speaker and the target of this ad, is still locked in a tough fight against attorney Steve Novick for next week's primary. So the attempt by Smith to drive up Merkley's negatives at this point could be a sign that he'd rather face Novick.

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Jeff Alworth: I'm (still) for Merkley

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 14, 2008

Blue Oregon's Jeff Alworth lays it all out:

The evidence that Merkley's the best candidate to run against him (Gordon Smith) is clear. The election won't be decided in Multnomah, Lane, and Benton Counties--voters there will back the Dem. It will be decided in rural and swing counties like Deschutes, Jackson, and Marion. The Dem doesn't have to carry these counties to win, but he must be competitive. Steve Novick has run a fantastic campaign, but he's run as a classic Portland liberal. The first order of business was to beat Merkley, and Steve has needed urban liberals to tip the scales. But where does he go in the general? Merkley has run his campaign with an eye toward Smith, and it will show in his rural support.

Jeff articulates one of the many reasons Jeff Merkley is the best candidate to defeat Gordon Smith: Jeff's statewide campaign has been built at the grassroots level and it touches every corner of the state.

Jeff is also the only candidate that has shown he's ready, willing and able to take the fight to Gordon Smith. From campaigning in Smith's hometown on the day that ballots went out to going hard after Smith on television, Jeff has already made it clear that he has Gordon Smith in his sights.

In fact, Jeff Merkley has Gordon Smith so worried, Smith is running attack ads against *only* Merkley, attempting to game the primary so he won't have to face Jeff one on one.

Read the rest of Jeff Alworth's excellent piece over at Blue Oregon.

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Merkley on the MAX

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 14, 2008

Jeff is spending mornings on the MAX this week, talking with commuting voters about the rise in gas prices. Some are attributing a spike in light rail ridership to the skyrocketing costs of fuel.

On Tuesday, Jeff teamed up with State Representative Jackie Dingfelder

KOIN 6 news covered Jeff on Tuesday at one of his MAX stops:

Check out some of the photos from Jeff's first morning of talking with MAX commuters:

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Senate Guru: Smith continues his misleading ads

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 14, 2008

Senate Guru (whose blog comes highly recommended for those following U.S. Senate races around the country) has an excellent blog post that highlights Gordon Smith's "misleading and divisive" radio ads against Jeff Merkley.

As the Guru notes, Smith takes "hundreds of thousands of Big Oil dollars and does their bidding dutifully", except in an election year, when Smith makes a mild peep against Big Oil.

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MyDD: Merkley has the momentum

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 12, 2008

Over at MyDD, Todd Beeton takes a closer look at the Oregon Senate race:

...the Rasmussen results may be a leading indicator of some momentum for Jeff Merkley as his upward trajectory against Smith is more consistent and pronounced, which appears to have Gordon Smith running scared as he's already launched an attack ad against Merkley and Merkley alone, indicating that...

Beeton is absolutely correct. The latest Rasmussen poll released over the weekend shows a definite upward trajectory against Gordon Smith for Jeff Merkley.

The momentum Jeff has build in the last few weeks has Gordon Smith very nervous. That's why Smith has decided to air a false, negative attack ad that goes solely after Jeff. Smith knows that Jeff is the candidate that can beat him, so he's interjected himself into the Senate Democratic primary, hoping to influence the outcome.

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Jonathan Poisner: Why I'm Proud to Vote for Jeff Merkley!

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 10, 2008

Note: this message is personal. The organization I work for has not made any endorsement in the US Senate race.

There are two strong environmental advocates running for U.S. Senate. They’re virtually indistinguishable when it comes to what they say they want to do in the U.S. Senate on the environment. Either would instantly become among the top 5-10 most pro-environment members of the U.S. Senate in their viewpoints and plans.

Yet, in my mind, the choice for my vote is clear – Jeff Merkley.

When Jeff Merkley joined the Legislature, he immediately took up the environment as an issue. He was smart enough to figure out quickly that with hostile Republican leadership, he had to think small – so he focused and made progress on an important, but narrow issue – reducing water pollution from outboard motors. As he moved up in seniority and led the Democrats back into power, his vision expanded dramatically. He was always a good vote and leader, but when the Democrats took control, he shined. The 2007 Session was the Legislature’s greenest in 30 years – passing 16 separate environmental bills, with the highest average environmental rating since 1977.

I don’t think folks recognize what an extraordinary achievement that was and how much of the credit is owed to Merkley. It’s not just that there was only a 31-29 Democratic majority in the House, with virtually all of the Republicans hostile. It’s that some of the Democrats also had a track record of voting for the environment less than half the time. Merkley succeeded in getting them to a yes vote on bill after bill by working closely with Environment Committee Chair Jackie Dingfelder using all the tricks of the trade – personal relationships, unusual allies, coalitions, and hard-nosed pressure.

These are precisely the skills that separate successful U.S. Senators from those who go there and make speeches. If you’re electing a President, speeches really matter. As a Senator, not so much. There’s a chance Steve Novick might turn out to be great at moving an agenda in DC, but it’s just that – a chance. With Merkley, we’re not taking a chance.

Setting aside who would make the better Senator, Jeff Merkley is also far more likely to defeat Gordon Smith.

For starters, Merkley is far more likely to be able to raise the national resources necessary to compete this fall. After seeking DSCC support and not getting it, Novick has now spent months bashing the DSCC. While the DSCC won’t write off Oregon as a result if Novick is the nominee, if the choice of where resources comes down between Oregon and some of the other harder to win states, you can bet Novick’s past words are going to hurt his case. And other interest groups will follow the DSCC’s lead.

Leaving money aside, I know friends who’ve repeated Novick’s line – “Smith’s a great conventional politician, so it will take somebody unconventional to beat Smith.”

This is one of those statements that sounds clever on the surface, but there’s no data to support it. In fact, the data points the opposite direction. Merkley may be conventional, but so is Oregon’s Senior Senator Ron Wyden, the last democrat to beat Gordon Smith.

American history is replete with examples of conventional politicians like Smith being upset by other conventional politicians like Merkley and Wyden. Novick used to claim that John Tester was an example he was emulating, but Tester was Montana Senate President – a resume more similar to Merkley’s, and Tester has endorsed Merkley.

Other Democrats who beat incumbents Senators in 2006: Bob Casey was Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Claire McCaskill was Missouri State Auditor, Sherrod Brown was an Ohio Congressman, and Sheldon Whitehouse was Attorney General of Rhode Island.

Only author and retired Navy Secretary Jim Webb had never held elected office before, but he had been U.S. Navy Secretary, a position with considerable political exposure. Webb also won because George Allen self-destructed with his maccaca moment, something we can’t count on Smith doing.

If you’ve actually watched any of these folks recently elected to the US Senate, as I’ve had the chance to do, you’ll realize they sound a whole lot more like Merkley in the way they present themselves to the public than they sound like Novick.

Unconventional politicians often have a strong base who rally behind them, as Novick clearly has done so. It’s easier for them to win primaries. But it’s much harder to translate that into a persuasive message to swing voters who aren’t paying much attention and never will. Maybe he can do it, but it’s a much harder challenge.

In the meantime, Merkley is being the workhorse that he is – winning endorsements of the coalition of groups needed to help, here and nationally, and building a message now being broadcast on television in a conventional, but effective way.

More likely to succeed. More likely to win. For me, it’s an easy call to cast my ballot for Jeff Merkley.

Respectfully,

Jonathan Poisner

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Emily Rose hearts Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate!

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 9, 2008

Blogger Emily Rose of Emily Rose in Rose City, blogs about why she decided to support Jeff Merkley:

In Portland, the city of overflowing Obamarama, its uncool to like the known quantity, I get that. But honestly, before one week ago, I knew very little about Jeff Merkley. My friend, Tricia, an uber activist, uber progressive, ten times the environmentalist that I’ll ever be, Tricia told me that I must vote for Jeff Merkley for US Senate. Tricia remains my good friend despite the fact that I may be the only person she knows who makes regular trips to the Chanel counter (thankfully, she doesn’t hold this against me). The point is: I trust Tricia implicitly in all things progressive. If Tricia loves Merkley, then I love Merkley.

And then, over tasty enchiladas and good wine, I met the man. Jeff Merkley is charismatic and likable and feisty when it matters. He’s got an amazing track record, he’s all about helping Oregon families with the big issues: Health care, good, solid jobs and getting our men and women soldiers out of Iraq. He is tough and he is smart.

Emily (and her very cute little boy) stopped by the campaign office the other day to let me know that she was going to blog about Jeff. She was overflowing with excitement about the possibility of having Jeff Merkley as our next U.S. Senator!

Her entire post is wonderful, so stop by and read it.

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A very special part of the Merkley family

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 6, 2008

In this photo, Jeff and his daughter Brynne are out in the neighborhood walking the family dog, Sadie. Sadie is an Airedale that the family has had since she was 6-7 weeks old. At two years old, Sadie is definitely an energetic and busy part of the Merkley family!

Jeff's wife Mary tells me that Jeff has always loved dogs, especially Airedales. In fact, when she met Jeff as a bachelor living in D.C., he owned two Airedales.

Mary also says that Sadie adds a special dimension of joy to the family. Sadie is up in the morning before the children get out of bed. She meets them as they start the day with her tail wagging, helping motivate them to get moving.

Jeff Merkley was endorsed by the Humane Society Legislative Fund this week because of his strong advocacy for animal welfare issues. Jeff understands the importance of pets for individuals and for families and has worked hard in the Oregon legislature for punishing those who mistreat animals.

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Tuesday with Cleland!

Posted by Carla Axtman on May 2, 2008

Tuesday, April 29th was an especially incredible day for the campaign. Former Senator and decorated Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland traveled to Oregon to support Jeff Merkley!

In the morning, Jeff and Senator Cleland held a town hall meeting with Jim Rassmann, co-chair of Veterans for Merkley.

The event was moderated by Col. John Zall (ret), (at the microphone in the photo below)

Zall is part of Veterans for Merkley and has also done some blogging in his day.

Jeff used the opportunity to talk more about the new piece of his vet's policy that he announced at the KATU debate last Sunday:free college tuition for families of anyone in uniform who dies in the line of duty.

On Tuesday evening, Senator Cleland joined Jeff for an event at Bridgeport Brewery in Portland that included some great local beer and food!

Some of our local blogging luminaries joined the fun, too:

(Left to right: Chris Greiveldinger, Bradley Dunn, Bill Nothstine, Kevin Kamberg and Sarah Lane)

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