Hi. I'm
Mike Caudle, Democratic nominee in Oregon's House District 39, which spans Oregon City, Canby and surrounding Clackamas County. I've been a lurker on dKos for some time since my campaign manager Jonathan Singer (who you might know from MyDD) turned me on to the site, but this is my first post on this site. (You can read more of my posts on my
campaign blog.)
Leafing through the Oregonian on Sunday, a story jumped out at me that I wanted to write about but until now had not had the opportunity to do so.
Almost 80 percent of registered Oregon voters in their 30s -- people settling into careers, buying homes and starting families -- opted to sit out May's primary election, an analysis by The Oregonian shows.
[...]
Barely one in four registered voters in their late 30s and early 40s voted. Voters ages 30 to 35 were no more likely than registered 18- and 19-year-olds to cast a ballot, the analysis found.
More and more, voters in this state -- particularly voters age 40 and below -- are getting fed up with Oregon's political system. This Oregonian article only underscores this fact.
I wholly understand the sentiment behind the low turnout numbers in May. With the career politicians in Salem spending more time pandering to the big lobbies and the party bosses, gridlock is as bad today as it has ever been.
The state legislature has failed to stabilize education funding. It has failed to create a rainy day fund. It has failed to ensure that children have access to insurance and quality healthcare. It has failed to fully reign in the predatory payday lendors who charge more than 500 percent annual interest. It has failed to do so many things.
With so many important initiatives still unpassed, it's no wonder that a significant number of Oregonians aren't voting.
But we cannot give up on these voters. We must inspire them to send in their ballots by election day by offering a vision of change. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do with this campaign.
I'm not a career politician, just a regular citizen fed up with the way things are going in Salem today. We desperately need new blood in the Capitol who isn't beholden to the big interests or so partisan that they can't get the work of the people done. We need fresh faces willing to make the tough decisions, to create a rainy day fund, to fully provide for our schools, to make it easier for small businesses to create jobs, to give law enforcement to the tools to combat meth, to regulate the predatory lenders, to provide aid to those most in need.
And I'm taking this message to all of the potential voters in this district. I'm knocking on the doors, calling the phones, going to the town meetings, marching in the parades. We're going to get out the vote in Oregon's 39th House District, all right. We're going to get people -- especially voters under the age of 40 -- voting this fall.
But I need your help. Whether it's a contribution, an endorsement, a pledge to volunteer, or an email about the website design and content, I need your help so we can win this fall and bring real change to Salem.