On Monday night, I had the chance to sit down with my friend Jesse Cornett, who's running for the Democratic state Senate nomination in a district that covers the eastern part of Portland.

Jesse served eight years as a member of the United States Army Reserves and the Oregon Army National Guard, and has worked under leading Oregonian politicians such as Senator Ron Wyden, former Senator Mark Hatfield, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, and Congressman Earl Blumenauer. He has also worked in numerous campaigns and has been involved in the creation of two key parts of Oregon's progressive infrastructure: the Bus Project, discussed during the interview, and Blue Oregon, a Democratic blog community.

Jesse is a great guy who exemplifies the qualities we all look for in a progressive politician. He really is a rising star in Oregon politics, but he needs support today so he can achieve great things in the future. Check out his website and consider throwing him a Hamilton or two; I just shot him $100, for what it's worth. Also, listen to the interview here (warning, a 14.1 megabyte .wav file) or read the transcript below.

Jonathan Singer: Jesse, you're a fighting Democrat in many ways, not just having served our country but also standing up for progressive ideals. What would you say about yourself being a fighting Democrat?

Jesse Cornett: I've heard that a lot lately, and it's really funny because I've never really though of myself in quite those terms, and under the nature of a campaign that's how I've presented myself, but I guess it's true.

I think there are many, many things that the Democrats should be fighting for nationwide, locally here in Oregon that we're not. For instance, tonight I just came from a Medicare forum on the blunder that is Part D, which I had very little idea about before 10 days ago. That's one thing, the three Members of Congress from here - Hooley, DeFazio and Blumenauer - who voted against it, where they're talking about the blunder that it is and potential changes. That's one area.

Locally here, I got into this race because there's just a ton we can do to find stable and adequate funding for our schools. 600,000 Oregonians are without healthcare coverage. We have no rainy day fund in the state when things go south. These are things Democrats have been talking about but not fighting for. So those are I'm just really excited to fight for.

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