FeedsWhy I work for Jeff Merkley
My path to Jeff Merkley's U.S. Senate campaign began with one of his opponents, Steve Novick. Browsing the Reed College career website, looking for ways to get involved, I came across an internship with Steve Novick's campaign. Being from California, I was fortunate that a good friend was dialed into Oregon politics. He recommended that I instead go to work for the Speaker of the Oregon House, Jeff Merkley.
I planned to dive head first into Jeff's background, so I would know what I was getting into and be a walking fountain of Merkley knowledge for an interview. Not exactly what happened.
I went to his website and watched his kickoff video. I then fired off an e-mail to the campaign, a little giddy. Jeff's message that our country is off track and we've got lots of problems echoed my own sentiments. The greater factor was his sincerity and honest desire to better our country. Jeff was someone that I wanted to work for.
I still did research. I still talked to people I trusted. I discovered that Jeff Merkley had done outstanding work in the Oregon Legislature. He's shown that he is an excellent candidate and a great campaigner. I knew I would be joining a superb cause.
Initial euphoria can only last so long, however. When you're taking your first sip of another cup of coffee at 4 a.m., you've got believe in what you're doing. During college it was because I enjoyed the material. In order for me to work like that for Jeff's campaign, he would need to have more than just the letter "D" next to his name come November.
Which brings me to why I'm at the campaign, and why I work for Jeff Merkley. Jeff's got a lot of substance to go with his credentials, and the right ideas to send Gordon Smith back to Pendleton. Particularly with the Iraq War and U.S. Energy Policy.
Having heard Jeff speak a number of times about the Iraq War, I agree with his approach. Iraq is a mess that is costing us billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and won't be settled anytime soon. The U.S. needs to get out. Jeff's position of six to twelve months is one that pursues withdrawal in a reasonable manner.
And energy policy. As someone that is going to deal with the problems of our energy policy in this lifetime, I'm a little freaked out. The fact that Jeff has put out a thoughtful, progressive energy platform is comforting. I can count on Jeff Merkley's support for critical things such as plug-in cars, hybrids, renewable energy sources, stricter standards for carbon emissions, and higher miles per gallon requirements.
Also, Jeff is aware that the U.S. has to be prudent with our superpower status. That sense of responsibility resonates with me, as the U.S. can not afford to be a cavalier superpower.
He has put out a well thought out, progressive campaign platform. He's dedicated a lot of time to putting out a serious platform that I not only support, but that is also strong enough to beat Gordon Smith. And Jeff will continue to be a strong progressive after we have elected him elected to the Senate.
Maybe 2008 will be another "bloodbath" like 2006 was, there's no guarantee. All I know is that I will be doing what I can to ensure that we add good Democrats to the ranks of our elected leaders. Democrats like Jeff Merkley.
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Comments from site editors have a darker background than comments from everybody else.Excellent post.
Jeff can and will beat Smith!
It's a win/win for Oregon.
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Good post. Glad to have you contributing, but sorry to lose one of our loyal readers!
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Yeah, now we're down to what, three? Anybody else out there want to be a contributor?
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Three? It has to be more than that. Five, maybe.
We're bloggers! At least, we like to play some at parties.
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I still read sometimes!
;-)
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I'm a new reader--and I gotta say that I'm just now dipping my toes into the waters of Oregon politics and Hayes' article is pretty convincing. So, maybe I'll join the rank of five and make it six and learn something along the way.
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Wow. Welcome!
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