Merkley gets country cred

Supporters get Testy after Blowback from Tester Endorsement

Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley in yet another attempt to prematurely lock up the Democratic nomination to challenge Gordon Smith, our Republican fruitpacker US Senator from Pendleton, received another heavy endorsement yesterday. Junior Montana Senator and flat-topped farmer Jon Tester weighs in on Oregon's senate race:

"I am emailing you today because I am supporting a true progressive for US Senate: Jeff Merkley. I look forward to traveling to Oregon before the end of the year and for an event with Jeff. We'll get the details about my visit out to you soon. But today I'm asking for your help. We need another good Democrat in the United States Senate."

The timing of this endorsement was curious and turned out to backfire on the Mandate/Merkley machine. It seems many undecided voters would prefer that our candidate be chosen through the Oregon primary in May as opposed to back-door meetings with Chuck Schumer and the DSCC national party Dems.

Some undecided progressives also take issue with Tester's recent vote in the US Senate condemning a newspaper ad by MoveOn.org. Much like the GOP-engineered vote in the Oregon legislature acknowledging the "courage of George W. Bush" (which Merkley fell for), the "Democratically controlled" congress got suckered into flag waving yet another supposed "support the troops" measure through the legislative process. Jon Tester helped the Republicans. Jeff Merkley was merely collateral damage this time around.