Oregon Senate Watch

Word is that Chuck Schumer spent much of Wednesday bombarding Congressman Peter DeFazio's staffers with calls to try and set up a teleconference to lobby the Congressman to run for the Senate.  DeFazio relented, and word is that he was able to book an hour of the Congressman's time Thursday morning.  Meanwhile, Kos, who appears to be allied with Schumer in the effort to draft DeFazio, had a suspiciously well-timed (for Schumer) front page post on DeFazio around the time of the call.  So who will run for Oregon Senate against Smith?

Well, astute observors of Oregon politics just got an answer!

Just not from DeFazio.

One person challenging Smith will likely be John Frohnmayer, the brother of University of Oregon and former A.G. David Frohnmayer, and a former head of the NEA in the Bush I Administration.  He's probably the closest analogy that Oregon has to Webb.  Frohnmayer has made no bones about the fact that he's considering a run, albeit as an independent, and he telegraphed his intentions pretty clearly on the website for Oregon's public television station just a few days ago:

If we are to have a meaningful discussion about Oregon’s senate seat in 2008, how can we limit it to just who the Rs or Ds field? Both political parties are captive to big money, most of which will come from outside Oregon and will not have Oregon’s b est interest at heart. Moreover, the political parties have proved, before and after the 2006 election, that they are much more interested in bashing each other than in addressing our problems.

Oregon has a new Independent Party (IPO), statistics show that young people, in particular, registering for the first time are choosing not to be affiliated. Most of the people with whom I have talked are disgusted with partisanship and looking for another answer. I believe an Independent candidate could win this race. [e-mail]

Frohnmayer is a maverick.  He left the NEA as a result of a dust up with the religious right, and he left with both guns blazing (as recounted by the National Review):

The departing NEA chief warned ominously that the deadly hand of the religious Right would soon fall on public broadcasting, then on government funding for universities, then on science. Who knew where it would end?

If DeFazio elects not to run, which is how most in the know in Oregon would predict, than maybe Schumer should give some thought to recruiting Frohnmayer.  If DeFazio does run, then they better get Frohnmayer out of the race because he'll be running to the left of Smith - potentially dooming DeFazio's chances by sucking some of the key "moderate" votes.

Meanwhile, DeFazio continues to demonstrate why both Democrats and Republicans appreciate him, through his intelligent support of the troops:

The first wave of Iraq and Afghanistan student veterans are returning home after serving overseas, and now they have a physical meeting space in the Erb Memorial Union. Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) were on hand to celebrate the unveiling of the new Veterans and Family Student Association.

Nadine Clarke, the University's veterans coordinator, said there are around 187 self-reported Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are students at the University. There may also be another 100 or so who have chosen to keep their veteran status confidential to the school, she said.

Where can these more than 200 veterans meet and be able to gain information on benefits, counseling or just share a cup a coffee? Until a few days ago there was no such place, but on Thursday the VFSA opened its office in the EMU.

"We have to do a better job on delivering," DeFazio said. He explained that the U.S. government routinely piles on promises to U.S. troops while they are enlisting and leaves them flat on their backs when they return from war. Student veteran Noah Mrowczynski was on hand to thank DeFazio for co-sponsoring the Military Readiness Enhancement Act that will help ease the Clinton era's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies toward troops with same-sex partners.

•  Oregon is in for a wild ride.

  Should be fun.

  by cityduck on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 10:28:16 AM PDT

•  An exciting possibility

  Frohnmayer would be an excellent and viable candidate to defeat Gordon Smith.  If Peter DeFazio stays in his safe seat in the House, where he seems to be most comfortable, and where he has valuable seniority, and Frohnmayer wins the race for the Senate, Oregon and the country would be sitting pretty.  Frohnmayer has the connections to successfully raise funds and a strong track record. His family has strong connections throughout Oregon, from south to north. He is a charsimatic individual and would represent us well.  

  Keeping DeFazio in the House and putting Frohnmayer in the Senate - great and achievable scenario.  

  Thanks for writing about this, cityduck.  

  by Old Gardener on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 10:43:20 AM PDT

  •  He'd definitely make the race interesting.

    Frohnmayer is presently a history prof at OSU.  He is a lawyer like his brother, having graduated from the UO law school in 1972.  He is a musician (in fact the music school at the UO is named after his mother), which was probably why his interests led him to the Chairmanship of the NEA (under GHB not Reagan, sorry).

    This quote from the National Review back when he was sacked as head of the NEA in 1992 says a lot about John Frohnmayer:

    IT IS not often that one hears a high government official depart on wings of song. But John Frohnmayer, when he was sacked as head of the National Endowment for the Arts, burst into a rapturous rendition of the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts," first at a farewell meeting with his staff, and again during a farewell speech at the National Press Club. This was all the more curious in that Frohnmayer sang this hymn of the Shakers--a now extinct Christian sect--as part of his attack on Senator Jesse Helms and the "fundamentalist religious Right" that he claimed was driving him from office. The departing NEA chief warned ominously that the deadly hand of the religious Right would soon fall on public broadcasting, then on government funding for universities, then on science. Who knew where it would end?

    by cityduck on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 10:53:39 AM PDT

•  This is more worrisome news than good news

  If Frohnmeyer (who from your description sounds decent) is intent on not running as a Democrat and the Democrats stand aside from him, as they did with Bernie Sanders for many years House races in Vermont, fine.  If Frohnmeyer wants to be an Independent yet still run on the Democratic line, as Bernie Sanders just did in his Senate race in Vermont, fine.  But if there's a serious possibility of splitting the anti-GOP vote here and letting Smith win -- and that looks fairly likely -- then this is terrible, not fun at all.  I don't think anyone thinks that Smith would get less than 40% even in a three-way race, do they?

  by Major Danby on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 11:11:19 AM PDT

  •  It IS Worrysome.

    If there is a three way race with Frohnmayer sucking votes from the middle, that could dramatically aid Smith.  Think Ross Perot.

    But, I tend to think that if a strong Dem enters the race Frohnmayer may stay out.  Still, if I were Schumer, given the precedent with Webb, I'd be seriously looking at courting this guy a little bit if DeFazio falls through.  

    by cityduck on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 11:14:49 AM PDT

•  With all due respect...

  progressives who care about results need to unite behind ONE candidate -- most likely the democratic nominee -- otherwise it's all just vanity and ego disguised as populist revolt against the "two-party duopoly" (Thanks again, Ralph...a$$h@l*).

  If all he wants to do is make a statement, then for God's sake, just take out an ad in the paper or put up a billboard. But if we, including this Frohnmayer fella want to change the enabling nature of the GOP senate and the wrong direction of the country -- in the end, there will be two options, and they will essentially be

  1. "Bush/GOP sycophant", or

  2. "the other guy"

  Let's just hope Oregonians (and their prospective candidates) are smart enough not to make "the other guy" two people...

  by PBJ Diddy on Fri Apr 06, 2007 at 12:09:45 PM PDT