Forward Oregon

On why he’s different than Gordan Smith and his positions on issues that matter to Oregonians in the current economic slump.

Impressed? Help us raise $5K today:
http://www.actblue.com/page/mayday4merkley

This ad, titled Know, focuses on how Merkley understands the health care system and how he has personal experience with it because his wife, Mary, is a nurse. It lays out what he will do as a Senator and that his priorities are with patients and health care professionals and not lobbyists.

Anyways, it is an intelligent ad that will get the message across to Oregonians that one of Merkley’s main priorities is quality health care for all Americans.

The story about Novick’s less-than-flattering response to blogs during the Willamette Weekly endorsement interview has already been discussed at mydd and openleft, but I think his disregard for the netroots is evidence of something greater. Novick’s priorities are not aligned with what is best for Oregon.

Both of the above blogs discuss the content of Novick’s comments, which include him calling blogs “a way for a number of people to waste a vast quantity of time”. This not only undermines the valid space that blogs inhabit within the larger political discourse, but it is reckless for someone who considers themselves the ‘progressive’ candidate to display such blatant disrespect to their netroots base. As discussed other places, he has insulted bloggers and their utility in the overall netroots aspect of campaigns.

Here is the video if you haven’t seen it yet:

What is the most important facet of Novick’s performance at the Willamette Week interviews is that he states that would vote for Frohnmeyer over Merkley in the primary if he could not vote for himself.

Here is the awkward video that captures this stumbling moment for Novick:

This portrays that for Novick this race is not about beating Gordan Smith, as it is for Merkley, who immediately stated that he would vote for Novick if he was not running — because he is the only other viable candidate in this race (based on name recognition, fundraising numbers, etc). Novick does not seem to have the best interests of democrats in mind. In the same interview Novick gives Merkley an A-/B+ for his legislative sessions (and would have given him an A except he cited a lack of progress made on Measure 11, which is total baloney because Merkley testified about it in front of Chip Shield’s committee) and then claims that he isn’t someone he would vote for.

Instead his candidate of choice is former-republican-current-independent Frohnmeyer.

Regardless, an A-/B+ is a fantastic rating for a legislative session and displays Merkley’s capability as a leader within the House to work with a slim majority to enact change. It is undeniable that Merkley has the experience to work with a divided Congress to accomplish progressive goals.

Based on his vote for Frohnmeyer, the only plausible conclusion is that Novick doesn’t seem to want to send the best Senator possible to D.C.

I’m so excited! And so should you be because next Friday, April 11th at 4:30 p.m., U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley will be at the Lucky Lab located at 1945 NW Quimby in Portland discussing the environment and having a beer. This is an excellent way to celebrate Earth Month — with someone who has fought tirelessly for the environment in the Oregon Legislature, enacting many substantial and progressive environmental laws. A few remarkable examples include: increasing the fees that big air polluters face (to help discourage polluting in the first place), creating new recycling programs for water bottles, computers and televisions, protecting our beach estuaries, insisting that by 2025 25% of Oregon’s energy be renewable, and demanding that our greenhouse gas emissions decrease significantly; to be 75% lower than the 1990 emission rate by 2050. If you think that list is impressive, you should come meet Merkley!

Here is the clever video invite for the Green Collar Happy Hour:

I’m definitely attending, I hope to see you there!

This is the first post of the new co-writer, atleastimhonest. I wanted a place to discuss everything that I thought should be included here, but Bdunn graciously let me join it instead. I’m interested in creating discourse here about the issues of this campaign cycle that need more attention than they are getting in the major news sources, calling it as I see it, and to generally kicking Bdunn’s ass when needed.

Having a progressive stance on reproductive rights has always made Kate Brown stand out as an exceptional candidate in the Secretary of State race, for me. That is why I am proud to learn that she has recently received the endorsements of both Emily’s List and NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon.

Jonathan Parker, the political director of Emily’s List, highlighted Brown’s legislative experience in their endorsement and stated:

“As the first woman to serve as Oregon State Senate majority leader, Kate Brown has been a role model and trail blazer for women everywhere”.

On her NARAL endorsement, Brown emphasized all she had done for reproductive rights in Oregon:

“For over twenty years, I have worked closely with the pro-choice community and have been a leader in preserving and protecting our reproductive freedoms, fighting for access to birth control and health care for Oregon woman and their families.”

These are important endorsements for her, as even though Brad Avakian has dropped out of the race, there are still two highly qualified candidates running that she needs to be able to distinguish herself from. As a member of the young progressive women voting block, being supportive of reproductive rights is important to me when choosing a candidate. Gaining these endorsements will also differentiate her from the other woman senator in the race, Vicki Walker, and gain momentum with my demographic.

In addition, Brown currently has a small monetary advantage, which is important for her to maintain. Emily’s List will definitely assist her with this as one of their main strategies in perpetuating their progressive platform is to raise money from their members (about 100,00 in the country) to benefit all of their endorsed candidates. They will also help Brown to gain more name recognition, which she needs to compete with Rick Metsger, who currently has the advantage because of his sixteen years as a KOIN-TV anchor before becoming a state senator. Brown has approximately 68,000 constituents, which is considerably less than that of the KOIN-TV viewers.

With these significant endorsements from both NARAL and Emily’s List, Kate Brown will be capable of furthering her campaign in three essential ways: she will be able to compete financially within the race, distinguish herself as a reproductive rights leader from Vicki Walker and increase her name recognition in comparison to Rick Metsger.