Earlier today, Senate candidate Steve Novick sent out an alert e-mail in response to an article in the Bend Bulletin noting that the DSCC had spent $93,000 on behalf of Oregon Speaker Jeff Merkley's Senate campaign. The Novick campaign's e-mail suggested:
If we want to take our politics back from the Washington establishment, it is up to us to stand with Steve and make sure Oregonians are the ones who pick our nominee.
If Mr. Novick is true to his principle (and isn't just trying to take a quick shot at Speaker Merkley for enjoying some establishment support) that Oregonians, and only Oregonians, should be the ones to pick the nominee, and out-of-state fundraising is contradictory to that principle, will Mr. Novick agree to return every financial contribution to his campaign that comes from outside of Oregon? Surely, he wouldn't want the financial contribution of a Washingtonian or Californian impacting the electoral decision of Oregonians. Will Mr. Novick further eschew financial support from the DSCC should he win the Democratic nomination (and willingly put himself at a major financial disadvantage against Gordon Smith, who will no doubt enjoy some support from the NRSC)?
If Mr. Novick isn't willing to return every out-of-state financial contribution, then this alert rings hollow. If Oregonians alone should pick the nominee, and Mr. Novick extends that sentiment to financial support, he ought to return every contribution that has come in from outside of Oregon, lest his charge seems hypocritical, like the argument of a candidate who shuns "establishment" support not for any principled reason against it but rather for no better reason than he simply lacks "establishment" support.
My point with this post is not to pick on Mr. Novick by any means, though I found his "alert" flimsy. Both Mr. Novick and Speaker Merkley are progressive candidates who would be vast improvements upon Gordon Smith. Both Novick and Merkley want to bring the troops home from Iraq, want to expand health care, want to increase opportunities for workingclass Oregonians, and so on. Both also understand grassroots politics. Either would be a terrific Senator. So let's have a positive primary campaign that focuses on the policy differences between Merkley and Novick and discusses both men's experiences and demonstrates why it would be a mistake to re-elect Gordon Smith. And let's leave these fairly silly stunts out of it.
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