Forward Oregon

I have been doing far more phone banking this cycle than usual being a canvassing lover, so yesterday was a great opportunity to get out with State Representative Brian Clem and the Willamette Students for Jeff Merkley knocking on doors.

With the sun making it warm but comfortable, you couldn’t have asked for a better day from mother nature.  The turf was very hospitable, as we were in a precinct with a high concentration of Democrats.  We were in Rep. Clem’s home base both because I walked past his house several times but also the district overwhelmingly turned out for the now freshman Democrat in 2006 (though to be fair, it’s hard to win by 22 points with out most of the district turning out for you).

Canvassing for a primary is just different than doing so in a general.  People are more open and interested in having an engaged conversation.  I had a great run talking to voters, with only 3 out of 16 voters all day ending up undecided or supporting someone else in the primary.  Through out this primary, I have found that if you just talk to people about who Jeff Merkley is and what he has done for Oregon, they are quite eager to vote for him.

This is true with even former Novick supporters.  I was talking to this couple that described themself “hard core Novick supporters” when I initially approached them.  I asked them why they were supporting the other guy and they talked about wanting to shake things up.  When I told them about how Merkley shook up the House Democrats after he was elected Democratic leader, returning to the grassroots with organizations like the Bus Project and running strong progressive candidates like Brian Clem, and followed that by leading the most progressive legislative session in decades, they came around fast.  That is the beauty of canvassing, the ability to talk to people on a nice Sunday and engage in democracy at its most basic levell.  It allows people look beyond the pidgeon hole terms that fly about in an election, and when they do they know the candidate that will be the best United States Senator and the candidate that is best equiped to take on Gordon Smith are one in the same, Speaker Jeff Merkley.