Oregon Senate: Jeff Merkley Rising

May 17th, 2008 by JAZZ SHAW

Over at the American Street, Kevin Hayden is endorsing Oregon state House Speaker Jeff Merkley in the Democrats’ efforts to unseat Gordon Smith, the sole remaining Republican Senator on the west coast.

Merkley is currently the Speaker of the House in the state lege, so he carries the tag as the insider. Yet when I lived in East Portland, from 2001-04, he was my state legislator and I found him to be responsive, solid on every issue near and dear to my heart, approachable, communicative, and friendly. The only knock I heard anyone ever say was that he was such a straight arrow that some found that a bit boring.

He has, however, proven effective. So I just couldn’t see how anyone else could do a better job as a rep, other than championing some way left pipe dream, like legalizing marijuana or turning Oregon into Ecotopia. He’s not a Kucinich but he’s not far from a Wellstone.

Earlier this year, Merkley was trailing in a hard fought primary race against Steve Novick, but has since pulled up to a 31 - 27 lead in the latest polls. Gordon Smith’s popularity has been dropping of late, with his approval ratings falling below 50% in state wide polling. Over at the Washington Post, Chris Cillizza keeps The Line, where he lists Smith’s seat as one of the ten most likely to change hands this fall. (Though it should be noted that Cillizza has some doubts about a Merkley victory in this Tuesday’s primary and still thinks Novick could pull off an upset.)

Merkley’s fortunes may be assisted by a national trend of damage to the Republican brand, in addition to the local politics of Oregon. If you would like to learn more about the candidate, you can listen to a replay of an interview I conducted with Speaker Merkley last month. After Tuesday’s primary, the Oregon Senate race should begin to firm up considerably and we’ll be able to get a feel for where it’s heading over the summer.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 5:16 am and is filed under Primaries, Newsweek Blogitics, Democratic Party, 2008 Elections, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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