Merkley's not-so swift boaters

I'm a Novick partisan, I suppose, and these are the facts as I know them...

I first heard about Steve Novick after a failed attempt to draft (my former) populist US Congressman, Peter DeFazio. I followed this effort through Loaded Orygun. When the Rep. declined to run, LO took an interest and later endorsed Steve Novick for US Senate. LO co-editor Carla Axtman later left the blog to join the campaign of Novick's primary opponent, Oregon House Speaker, Jeff Merkley, who was recruited in July by DSCC chair, Chuck Schumer. This support also came with ca. $100,000 seedy money for the choice of the Democratic establishment.

Also on Merkley's side is "the biggest blog in Oregon," BlueOregon.com. It's "chief cook and bottle washer is Merkley paid media staffer, Kari "sometimes-I-forget-to-disclose-my-paid-relationships" Chisholm.

Posted by: Kari Chisholm | Jan 22, 2008 11:34:50 PM
[...] As you well know, I post my disclosure on every blog post I write - and on every comment that I post on anyone else's blog. Seriously [...]

His blog, once believed to have been a a neutral, progressive forum, has become primarily a propaganda organ (IMHO) for Mr. Chisholm's many clients.

Chisholm has also constructed a nice echo chamber of bloggers who daily expend bandwidth with their pro-Merkely, anti-Novick commentary. Among the men of Mandate are Michael Richardson, Chisholm's tech guy who co-publishes his own blog, Witigonen.com. Then there's blogger, cum peace activist, Kevin Kamberg, who used to co-blog with Merkley's netroots staffer, Carla Axtman if I'm not mistaken.

"How many of you made it to the Peace rally and march in Portland yesterday? I was there and had a blast. It was my first ever protest march." - K. Kamberg

In the Junior Varsity, we have the erstwhile Beaver Boundary, the recent upstart, gone out of bid'niss blog, dedicated to going negative on Novick and run by the assistant of vocal Novick critic Rep. Mitch Greenlick, Tom Powers. Forward Oregon, also created in the midst of this campaign by Bradley "don't-call-me-Bradley" Dunn (Bdunn - remind us of your relationship to jraad, aka Jamaal, a Merkley college organizer?), has been a reliable source for Chisholm's Blue(dog)Oregon.

Add to this Lefty Lane and the ever reliably pro-Merk&Co. Senate 2008 Guru not to mention the ever present chattering natterers Of Blue0; Pat Ryan, Mitch Gore ("Lestatdelc") and the ever curmudgeonly "LT," and behold the echo chamber of Kari Chisholm.

Jeff is espousing anti-war cred he has not earned. His excuse for voting to "acknowledge the courage of George W. Bush" rings hollow. Where is this supposed column he published? I'm only getting stonewalled by the Merkley surrogates and staff alike.