Since October, I have put in more hours volunteering on Oregon Senate candidate and Speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley's campaign for United States Senate than I can count.  I do it because I believe that not only will Jeff beat the Republican incumbent Gordon Smith, but that he will become one of the best United States Senators in the country.  In D.C., Jeff will be able to fight for the things that he has in Oregon, ensuring LGBT rights, enhancing protections for unions and working people, and protecting the environment.  My job is to make that happen any way I can, so some fellow bloggers and I are doing a one day fundraiser today for Jeff to try to raise an ambitious $5,000 for the campaign.  I don't know a more deserving candidate, so if you could please help us reach our goal with a donation to Jeff (if you work in Oregon remember that there is a tax credit for your first $50 of political contributions) I would be very grateful.

I have been doing far more phone banking this cycle than usual, being a canvassing lover, so Sunday was a great opportunity to get out with State Representative Brian Clem and the Willamette Students for Jeff Merkley knocking on doors. For those of you that don't know, Jeff Merkley is the Speaker of the Oregon House, and is running for Republican Gordon "I love George Bush and John McCain" Smith's seat.  But for now Jeff is in a contested Democratic primary against political consultant Steve Novick, though, it is clear in many peoples minds that Jeff Merkley is the best prepared to take on Smith

Cross posted at my Oregon politics blog Forward Oregon

When President Obama is sworn in on January 20th, 2009 the fight to bring progressive change to America will not be over.  We have already seen what a nasty partisan and obstructionist minority can do abusing the rules of the United States Senate to cause gridlock and block the common sense progressive policies that our country so desperately needs to get back on the right track.  That is why I spend my volunteer hours trying to give President Obama 60 progressive votes in the US Senate by helping Democratic Speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley defeat Republican Gordon Smith this fall.

I was privileged to be a part of both the Democrats efforts that won back the House in the 2006 election and in the 2007 legislative session.  For those who were a part of those efforts, it couldn't be more clear that we need the kind of leadership that Jeff Merkley showed in the United States Senate.

With Obama's visit to Oregon on Friday, Oregon Senate Candidate Steve Novick's less than kind endorsement of Obama and several attacks against Senator Obama Novick wrote on the blog Blue Oregon have been getting quite some attention.  These comments have brought into question what many see as Novick's divisive style and his ability to build the coalitions needed to both to defeat Senator Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) and to govern effectively with other Democrats if elected.

Cross-posted at Forward Oregon, my Oregon centric politics blog.

Recently, Jeff Merkley won the Oregon AFL-CIO endorsement.  Many cited his long legislative record defending of workers rights as the reason Merkley won the endorsement.  On Friday, Merkley showed that his support for workers extends far beyond the House of Representatives, rallying with striking members of AFSCME Local 1995.  

Cross posted at my Oregon centric politics blog Forward Oregon

The signs were good, but actually winning the AFL-CIO endorsement yesterday must have felt great for Oregon Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley.  The AFL-CIO endorsement is the biggest in the race so far and has profound implications moving forward.  This diary examines the how this affects things moving forward.

    Just before the Thanksgiving weekend began, AFSCME Council 75 endorsed Jeff Merkley's candidacy in the Oregon Senate Democratic primary, becoming the third union both to make an endorsement in the race and to support the Speaker.  As someone who grew up in a union household, I wanted to analyze the impact of the current and potential future labor endorsements on the race.

Crossposted at my new blog Forward Oregon

As noted both here and elsewhere Gordon Smith, has gotten in a little trouble by using his Senatorial franking privileges to send Portland mail lauding his work with Hillary Clinton and forgetting to send it to conservative Eastern Oregon.  Since franking privileges are fairly obscure, I thought I would discuss them here.

cross-posted at our new blog Forward Oregon,

If you were Gordon Smith, with an unhappy base and vulnerable, would you send an a direct mail piece to Eastern Oregon bragging about working with Hillary Clinton? Neither would I. However, a mailer claiming exactly that showed up in Portland mailboxes about two weeks ago. Even better, Smith used Congressional franking privileges and tax payer money, to send this flier.

This diary is my reaction to Oregon Speaker of the House and US Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley's visit to Willamette University.  As many of you know I am the Political Director of the Willamette College Democrats.  Also I have a link to the article in the school paper.

This is going to be the first of hopefully many diaries I write here on the US Senate race in Oregon.  Outlook Portland, which is a fine public affairs show, had US Senate candidate and Speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley on for a half an hour last week and the videos just go posted to Youtube.  I have posted the videos below so you can see for yourself what was said, in addition to my comments.