This week's Merkley Progressive Roundup is brought to you by the 100 Towns For Change Tour. While Gordon Smith hides behind fat-cat fundraisers and trumped up media events, Jeff Merkley is holding town halls and meetings across the state to listen to Oregonians about the issues that matter to them.
Jeff's campaign can only fight back against Smith's onslaught of negative television ads with your help. PLEASE DIG DEEP. I know that you're being deluged with requests for cash--so am I. This race is absolutely winnable, but only if Jeff can fight back on the air.
And now to the Roundup!!
I traveled with the campaign on Saturday--5 stops in one day: Scapoose, St. Helens, Rainier, Astoria and Vernonia, as part of the 100 Towns Tour. (I'll have a more lengthy write-up and interview with Merkley for Blue Oregon on Tuesday.)
This day-long road trip was a beautiful drive along Oregon's highway 30, which stretches down the Columbia River. Along for the day with the campaign was State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and Rep. Brad Witt--the state rep for the area where we visited.
It was a day chock full of coffees, meetings and town halls--where Oregonians were welcome to talk with their elected officials and meet their next U.S. Senator. Merkley, Avakian and Witt all fielded questions ranging from health care to the environment, from the economy to the war in Iraq. Its this kind of grasroots politics that shows Jeff really understands the importance of not just talking to us, but LISTENING to us as well.
It was a big week for Jeff in other ways, too. On Wednesday, he was one of four U.S. Senate challengers tapped to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver:
Blogging from the convention, Randy Shaw of Beyond Chron, calls Oregon's Senate race "key":
No race appears more important for environmentalists than the Oregon Senate race between incumbent Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Jeff Merkley. According to Jeremiah Baumann, Director of Environment Oregon, "Oregonians care more deeply about the environment than in prior elections, and Merkley is very strong on the environment."
Smith also has a strong environmental record—if one only looks at how he voted in 2008 as opposed to his pre-election year stands. This is a guy who won election vowing to oppose Alaska drilling and then voted in favor of it after taking office.
And then in back in Oregon, singer Willie Nelson and his wife Annie held an event in Salem with Jeff, marking our state's amazing commitment to the environment. Jeff's leadership in the 2007 legislative session helped bring Oregon back as a national leader on conservation and the environment.
So my fellow Kossacks, this is our time. This is our greatest chance this cycle to elect a TRUE PROGRESSIVE to the U.S. Senate for Oregon. For ending the war in Iraq, for an economy that benefits ALL Americans, for our environment, for health care and schools: Let's send Jeff Merkley to the U.S. Senate!