I'm a bit out of breath because I just ran around the entire office delivering the great news that a new SUSA poll shows Merkley ahead by 7 points!!! Check out the video....
The poll shows that Merkley does have the momentum in the race for Oregon Senate, but it also means that Jeff Merkley will become even more of a target for the rightwing attack machine. Karl Rove and his buddies will stop at nothing to keep Gordon Smith in power.
Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley
Only 387,117 Oregonians have cast their ballots. That means, hundreds of thousands of Oregonians have not cast their ballot. WE HAVE A TON OF WORK TO DO. We have 10,000 volunteer shifts to fill. We have thousands of phonecalls to make and thousands of doors to knock on. And, we need to raise enough money to compete with Gordon Smith's war chest and the millions from Karl Rove's Freedoms Watch who is currently smearing Merkley.
The Senate race in Oregon is a crucial one. It's not just that we want to increase our numbers in the Senate, we also need to strengthen the progressive wing of the Democratic party. That is exactly why electing Merkley is so important. Merkley will never hesitate to protect our civil liberties. Merkley's work abroad and at the Pentagon as a national security analyst has given him the judgment to distinguish between real national security threats and manufactured threats. Merkley will fight for universal health care, he'll fight for FAIR TRADE, and a new energy economy.
Merkley isn't just a dependable progressive vote, he's a proven progressive leader. Back in 2006, Merkley engineered a Democratic takeover of the Oregon House and ended 16 years of Republican rule. After he was unanimously elected House Speaker by his colleagues, Jeff led the most productive, progressive, greenest and most labor friendly session we've seen in 30 years. That was with a one vote majority!
Here are some of the bills Jeff was able to push through.....
• Domestic partnerships
• Payday lending regulation
• Countless environmental bills making Oregon's 2007 session the greenest in the country
• The Rainy Day Fund, which is a savings account to protect important services in our state during future economic downturns
• A bill forcing insurance companies to cover contraceptives and ensuring that sexual assault victims have access to emergency contraceptives
• A bill lowering prescription drug prices
• Ethics reform
• Anti-discrimination legislation
• Expanded Head Start and increased public education funding by 18%
• The Card Check
• Doubled financial aid for college students
• A bill allowing families to use their paid sick leave for family leave if need be
• Expansion of Oregon's landmark bottle bill
Help Send a Strong Progressive to the Senate!
We need your voice. We need your energy. Please consider hitting the streets or making phonecalls for Merkley. If you live out of state but want to do your part to elect Merkley, you can make phonecalls using our portable phonebanking system. Contact Bridget at bridget@forwardoregon.org to find out more.
You can also help elect Merkley by throwing a little change his way via the Kossacks for Merkley Act Blue Page.