Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley jumped into the Senate race back in August of 2007. The outpouring of support for Jeff has been nothing short of amazing. Oregon Democratic leaders like former Governor Barbara Roberts, Senator Ron Wyden, Representative Earl Blumenauer, and Representative Peter Defazio have been incredibly hardworking campaigners for Merkley. That's not all, Democratic leaders from all across the country have been doing what they can to send Merkley, an accomplished progressive legislator, to the U.S. Senate. With just five days left until election day, I want to pay homage to all the great Democrats who have given energy to our campaign to put this nation back on track....
Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley
Jeff Merkley's record on veterans issues motivated former Senator and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland to come all the way out to Oregon to campaign for Jeff. As Oregon's House Speaker, Jeff increased funding for financial aid for veterans, ensured family members of the fallen would have their college tuition funded and gave tax incentives to health care providers that participated in TRICARE. To read Jeff's plan to take care of our veterans, go here.
Here's a picture of former Senator Cleland, veteran Jim Rassmann and Jeff Merkley....
Montana Senator Jon Tester is a big supporter of Jeff Merkley and has made his way out to Oregon two times to campaign for Jeff. Senator Tester's most recent visit was to Talent, Oregon to close out Jeff's 100th stop on his 100 Town Tour for Change.
Here's a picture from a recent event with Senator Tester and Jeff Merkley in Bend, Oregon at an environmental center. Senator Tester and Merkley talked about Jeff's rural economic development plan, which you can read more about here.
Senator Russ Feingold has spent much of his time campaigning in his home state of Wisconsin this election season. But, Senator Feingold felt compelled to come all the way out to Oregon to campaign for Jeff Merkley. Check out this video where Feingold talks about the reasons why it's so important to elect Jeff Merkley to the Senate:
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar was just in Oregon yesterday campaigning for Jeff Merkley. We hit the road down to Eugene, Oregon where Senator Klobuchar and Merkley spoke to Women for Merkley supporters about getting our economy back on track. Klobuchar spoke about the importance of electing Merkley and ensuring we can overcome Republican filibusters in the Senate so we can pass legislation to help working families. I wrote about hitting the road with Klobuchar here.
Here's a picture of Senator Klobuchar, Jeff and his wonderful wife Mary:
If all these visits by amazing Democratic Senators weren't enough, Vice President Al Gore made his way out to Oregon to campaign for Merkley. It was truly a special night, not to mention it was Jeff's birthday! Fighting climate change and investing in a new energy economy have been huge issues for Merkley. As House Speaker he led the greenest session our state has seen in 30 years, making Oregon's 2007 session the greenest in the nation. To read more about Merkley's plans to fight climate change and create a green energy economy go here.
Check out this video of Al Gore talking about Merkley and how we need new political will to address the crisis of global warming:
Last but definitely not least, Barack Obama recently filmed an ad telling Oregonians that change will come with a Senator Merkley. Check out the new campaign ad airing right now in the final days of this election season:
GOTV
Starting tomorrow, there will be only FOUR days left until election day. It's time to get off your computers and start hitting the streets for Merkley. We need a working majority in the Senate if we want to enact Obama's agenda for change. We need every single Oregonian to start making phonecalls and knocking on doors to make sure we send Republican Gordon Smith packing and replace him with a true progressive leader, Jeff Merkley.