Yesterday, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley became the first U.S. Senate challenger to sign on to A Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq.”
Click on the video to below to see Jeff Merkley discuss signing on to the Plan:
Carla–Netroots Outreach, Jeff Merkley for Oregon
Steve Novick released a new campaign ad today. While the campaign was filming its ad, it was able to make another at the same time entitled "Beer with Steve,". The spot offers a humorous take on Steve's 'unusualities' and his determination to find a way to make things work. So take a moment, watch the video, and pass it on to friends, neighbors and colleagues to help get the word out about Steve.
The East Oregonian reviews last Tuesday night’s Oregon Democratic Senate primary debate, and although they describe it as a “low key affair” with a lot of agreement between the candidates on policy, they give the edge to Steve Novick for style.
They describe Merkley as coming off “smug … there was a definite lack of emotion in his responses.” By contrast, they call Novick’s answers “spontaneous and less stilted … for those watching closely, it’s apparent he analyzes and thinks quickly on his feet.”
With so little difference in substance, style may influence some voters. And the edge from the first debate seemed – let’s repeat that, seemed – to favor Novick.That’s because while Merkley seemed confident, he also came off as, well, a bit smug. He kept his focus just above the audience of potential voters. His answers seemed almost memorized from a script, a script closely resembling his thoughtful position statements on his campaign’s Web site. He only glanced at Novick once throughout the debate. There was a definite lack of emotion in his responses, although there also was a momentary rise in feeling when he talked about health care and education.
[snip]
By comparison, Novick noticeably turned and listened intently whenever one of the other three candidates were responding to the questions the East Oregonian news staff posed. While his answers weren’t overflowing with emotion either, at least they seemed spontaneous and less stilted.However, he did miss an opportunity to separate his candidacy from Merkley’s. Novick didn’t emphasize distinctions of different solutions to the problems facing Oregon and our great nation. But for those watching closely, it’s apparent he analyzes and thinks quickly on his feet.
[snip]
Maybe, in the end, the answer for the lack of verbal fisticuffs came from Novick.“We’re all good Democrats here,” he said.
The first new ad for Steve Novick for Senate, produced by Eichenbaum & Associates (of Russ Feingold campaign fame), has been released!
Just $5,980 will let us purchase time on the Late Show to show our support for Letterman’s pro-labor stand during the writer’s strike, reach the influential Oprah audience and advertise on CNN during the January 21 Democratic Presidential Debate.
Help us get the word out about this “savagely smart, issue-driven, relentless as a junkyard dog” progressive candidate (Oregonian, 4/19/07)!
Thanks,
Andrew Gorry
Novick for Senate
When Jeff Merkley, the Speaker of the Oregon House, decided to enter the Democratic primary to take on Republican Sen. Gordon Smith at the end of July, the only announced candidate, Steve Novick, didn’t raise a fuss. In fact, his cordial response set what appeared to be a friendly tone for the primary campaign in the months ahead:
I commend Jeff’s decision to follow me in taking on Gordon Smith. […]I look forward to an inspired primary where each of us makes our case for why we must replace Gordon Smith and presents our respective visions for Oregon and America. And I propose a series of joint appearances across the state with Jeff and any other candidates that enter the primary to let voters make up their minds.
[…] Over the next ten months, I plan to travel the state – listening to voters’ concerns and sharing my vision. It would be my great pleasure to have Jeff join me in that journey.
However, despite Novick’s proposal for a primary campaign with the heat directed entirely at Gordon Smith, it sure appears that Novick is spending a great deal of time launching unprovoked barbs at Merkley. One of the first signs came in late August, when Novick found himself reading similar talking points as the state GOP to portray Merkley as a candidate who has flip-flopped on the Iraq War–something that isn’t true–because of a non-binding resolution passed by the Oregon House in 2003 that Merkley voted for in order to express solidarity with the troops. Remarks that Merkley made on the House floor clearly corroborate Merkley’s claim that he was opposed to the war since the beginning.
Next up, Novick slammed Merkley as the “insider’s candidate” in a message sent to his online supporters after a recent fundraising push:
And yes, if you’re wondering, we outdid our opponent in the Democratic primary in online fundraising this week. The insiders’ candidate sent out the same kind of last-week appeal that we did – to an email list that seems to include everybody in the state – and you smoked ’em. Oh, we’re sure he got lots of big checks this quarter; that’s what insider candidates do. But in online last-week enthusiasm, you rocked him hard.
Huh. And here I thought his campaign was about “rocking Smith hard”. My mistake.
But wait, it gets better! Both candidates recently announced their third quarter fundraising totals. Merkley outraised Novick by a $294K to $125K margin. While not extremely strong numbers for Merkley, he did begin his campaign at the start of August, and therefore only had two months to raise funds for the quarter compared to Novick’s three. Nevertheless, Novick’s campaign wasted no time in releasing the following statement to the press:
From Merkley’s campaign spokesman Russ Kelley: “People are really responding to Jeff’s message of opportunity and his solid record of accomplishment.”Or are they? says Novick’s campaign manager Jake Weigler. Democratic Senate candidates in other states who, like Merkley, were recruited by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, have posted much higher fund-raising totals.
“Merkley’s ‘surge’ did not succeed,” Weigler said. “These numbers show it’s going to be a highly competitive primary.”
Excuse me? Merkley’s “surge”? Certainly an interesting choice of words.
So what kind of primary campaign is Steve Novick running?
You tell me.
Oregon’s Speaker of the House, Democrat Jeff Merkley, is wasting no time in making a mark in his bid to topple faux-moderate Republican Sen. Gordon Smith next year. From an e-mail release issued this morning:
My fellow Americans,“I don’t recall.” “I don’t remember.” “I don’t know.”
Is it really possible that Alberto Gonzales is that checked out from the day-to-day operations in the Justice Department? He may have been the President’s personal attorney back in Texas, but he’s the Attorney General now – and he’s failing the American people.
He’s become an embarrassment. And worse, he’s become the single strongest example of political corruption and abuse of power in the Bush Administration.
Under Gonzalez’ embarrassing stewardship, they’ve fired U.S. Attorneys for political reasons. He’s authorized illegal wiretaps of American citizens. He even tried to strong-arm then-Attorney General John Ashcroft into authorizing the illegal wiretapping program while he lay gravely ill in a hospital bed. And now he won’t tell Congress the whole truth about what’s happening on his watch.
It’s time for Alberto Gonzales to be fired.
If the President won’t fire him, then the Congress should impeach him.
As mcjoan pointed out today, no one in the Senate has been this bold in calling for the impeachment of Alberto Gonzalez. This move by Merkley is not just crashing out of the gate–it’s screaming out of the gate.
If this is the kind of campaign that Merkley has in store for us–bold and aggressive–count me down as a fan.
On the tubes: Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate