Democratic Senate Challenger; member of State House
Endorsed by Sen. Wyden; I'll be his partner
Smith made frequent reference to his ability to work both sides of the political aisle. He often cited his ability to work with Sen. Ron Wyden, his Democratic counterpart representing Oregon. He said he also has taken on Bush on several issues over the
years and has worked with Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president.
But Merkley said he has been endorsed by Wyden. "Sen. Wyden needs a partner in Jeff Merkley," he said. Merkley said Smith has voted with Bush 90% of the time.
Source: 2008 Oregon Senate Debate, in Southern Oregon Mail Tribune
Oct 14, 2008
I've lived a pretty unconventional life
In his mid-20s, Jeff Merkley hopped a bus with a friend in Los Angeles and headed south for what would become a hairy, life-changing journey through revolution-torn Central America.
Merkley raced midget motorcycles as a child, and once owned--and crashed--a Harley. He roomed with an impoverished family in Ghana as a teen, hitchhiked across Israel as a young man and went on, as he puts it, to help shut down one of
Portland's worst crack alleys. "I've lived," he says, "a pretty unconventional life."
Yet for all that, he has become best known as the "establishment" candidate in a field of less-experienced upstarts. "I started this race unknown to Oregonians,"
Merkley says. "What they hear is 'speaker of the House.' That sounds pretty uninteresting. There's no way to convey in a 30-second ad the history of your life."
Source: The Oregonian, "Oregon House speaker"
May 1, 2008
Change direction and put America back on track.
We need to change direction and put America back on track. If my opponent, Gordon Smith, returns to Washington, it's just more of the same, and we can't afford that. Not in Oregon, not in America.
I'm the son of a mill-worker, the first in my family
to attend college. I believe in an America that gives every child the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential. I believe in an America that paves a broad road for families to thrive. It is time to make America work for working Americans again!
George Bush, John McCain, and Gordon Smith have given us a government that puts oil company profits ahead of drivers' pain at the pump and tax loopholes that ship jobs overseas instead of tax relief for the middle class.
Y'know, my opponent talks like
Barack Obama, but he votes like George Bush. Oregon needs a senator who will fight for affordable health care, living wage jobs, an end to the war and a smart energy policy, not a senator who will give us more of Bush and McCain's failed policies.
