>I much prefer Merkley.  I think hes the better candidate, has a higher ceiling and also has not disrespected his opponent or the blogosphere.

He is certainly NOT the better candidate. He has run a weak and uninspiring campaign. he should have put Novick away six months ago, but he has never been able to.

I'm not sure how Steve Novick could be said to have "disrespected his opponent." I'll cop to the fact that I don't particularly respect his opponent. But Steve seems to respect Jeff far more than I do. Merkley has run a nasty, supercilious, almost contemptuous campaign against Steve.

And what on earth do you mean about "disrespecting the blogosphere?" Unlike his opponent, Steve has actually BLOGGED before he was a candidate. In fact that was one of the ways he got in trouble. He wrote witty, provocative blog posts that contained colorful language that Merkley mined for short phrases that could be made to sound poisonous.

I can't say whether Merkley's ceiling is higher or lower than Novick's. But his floor is WAY LOWER, and he's on his way to tbe basement right now.

It's clear that Steve can communicate effectively with voters in all corners of the state. This is a great thing for Oregon Democrats.

Steve's the real deal. We've got to help him raise more money and get his message out. I have set myself a goal of raising a minimum of $25,000 for Steve.  Think about the people you know, and set yourself an aggressive but do-able goal, and get on it.

Don't count out Steve Novick in Oregon. He is very well respected by those who know him (including me), and he has 17 months to reach out to those who don't. He's been raising money and making contacts. He is an accomplished strategist with great experience fighting our local king of reactionary ballot measures, Bill Sizemore.

Check out

http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/05/why_i_ am_suppor.html

Here in Oregon more and more of us believe that if we get behind Steve he can and will win, and in the process give us a Senator that we as progressives can really be proud of.

Great story.

Thanks for sharing that.

Everything I've seen here in Oregon confirms that Steve is not just smart, funny, and diligent, but also tougher than anyone imagines.

Gordon Smith doesn't know what's about to hit him.

In Oregon, Steve Novick is already a very good candidate. Earl Blumenauer shows no sign of serious interest in the race and Randall Edwards has said several times that he is out.

Novick is VERY smart, clever and funny, has a great mastery of the issues, and connects well with people. He is also a fighter who will go after Gordon Smith HARD on the issues. He does need to get better known but he has 17 months to do that and he has already started having house parties and making other appearances to introduce himself to groups of voters. He's easy to underestimate but that would be a mistake.

We've got a damn good candidate out here already, folks.

Looking forward to seeing David Sedaris in Portland tomorrow night.

Christ, you're gving me flashbacks. And not the good kind.

Some of this smells eerily like a self-fulfilling prophecy here. Steve needs to get some more traction but he won't get it unless and until people stop whimpering about getting a name brand D into the race.

I live in OR-3 and I love having Earl Blumenauer as my Congressman, but I don't know how well he plays statewide and his greater name recognition could even hurt him with rural voters who have already made up their minds that he's just another Portland liberal.  Novick has the potential to introduce himself statewide to voters who don't know who he is or what he's about, in terms of the issues that are important to them, and get past the label.

That's what I'm hoping for, anyway.

I agree that the hook jokes (unless he has a lot of them in the can that we haven't heard yet) are going to begin wearing on people like us, but they will mostly be new to the voters he's trying to reach, since they don't pay obsessive geeky attention to this stuff the way we do. So I think he'll be fine.

And yeah, full disclosure: I've already given him a couple hundred bucks, and I plan to give more.

So should you.

Steve is exactly the kind of guy the netroots should embrace and run with.

Starting NOW.

All the "ifs" about DeFazio and Blumenauer are so much clutter. They show no signs of actually wanting to run for this seat.