As an independent I lack sufficient faith in the Democratic Party to make a blind donation to whomever the party might come up with to run against Smith. While I admire Steve Novick's history, I doubt that he will be a viable candidate because of the shallowness of the average voter. I would also like to suggest a thread to invite "Democrats for Smith" to explain their positions. I asked one on another thread to do so, but last time I checked he/she didn't respond. It seems they have no more faith in their own party than independents. The one consolation for opponents of Smith is that it appears he recognizes has accumulated enough negatives that he has some explaining (spinning) to do.

I'm surprised Susan Collins is willing to be joined at the hip with the other three --she's got some integrity and actually is a moderate. Hitching her wagon to those other losers could prove to be a big mistake for her.

John

Check Susan Collins' record. It isn't much better than Smith's. She talked a good game on occasions, but like Arlen Specter when it came down to action, she came up short.

Make a donation to Oregon's eventual Democratic nominee - or to Steve Novick for US Senate.

Wow, ol’ Steve must be feeling like the red-headed stepchild of the Oregon Democratic Party right about now. Not much love in the above endorsement.

With friends like that he doesn’t need any enemies.

Everyone who will run for the Democratic nomination is a Democrat. We (Democratic party) don't pick one over the other. We simply support the winner with all the resources we can muster.

The problem here for the Democrats is that independents will be turned off if the Democratic candidate is just another tweedle-dum to the Republicans' tweedle-dee, especially if he/she runs a pathetic campaign similar to those run by Gore and Kerry. Some of us are tired of voting for the lesser evil because the inevitable consequence of that is that you still get evil.

Select who you want to see in the race in November and donate your time and money. Consider changing your registration so you can vote in the primary -- it's extremely easy to change it back afterwards.

I did the above for Kulongoski for his first run for governor, and the only consolation there was that he was definitely the lesser evil. I would have preferred Jim Hill, but I figured he would be turned down by the racists in both parties. If it weren't for that I would endorse him to run against Smith. For the record, I responded to a call in an earlier thread and donated to Peter de Fazio, but that was more in appreciation for courtesy he showed me when I was campaigning to ban land mines that Smith considers to be suitable for littering around the world. Presumably, Smith is also unconcerned with the hundreds of thousands of cluster bombs the Israelis scattered around southern Lebanon where children are probably still being maimed or killed thinking they are something to play with.

As for influencing the party oligarchs at the state and national levels, I doubt that people outside of their cabals will have much influence unless they come in overwhelmingly large numbers. Note how the DLC and their cohorts ganged up on Howard Dean despite his immense popularity. And what did they give us? Flip-flop, blowing-in-the-wind, go-with-the-focus-groups Kerry.

Democrats should be able to take advantage of Smith's nationwide tour to nail him. How many wealthy donors will he meet with during the next few months? And how many Oregon voters? Odds are overwhelming that wealthy out-of-state donors will shake Smith's hand many times as often as Oregon voters.

But from what I've seen Democrats are totally incapable of taking advantage of Smith's aloofness. Maybe it's because most of them are just as aloof...

Have someone in a chicken outfit follow him around.

OK, that's been done.

What about having an Oregon resident, proudly wearing an Oregon T-shirt, follow Smith to every far-flung fundraiser with a sign (or suitcase plastered with stickers) detailing all the travel (outside Oregon) that the average Oregonian would have to do just to shake Smith's hand (or bend his ear) while he's campaigning for Oregon's senate seat.

Maybe put the Oregon resident in a Duck outfit for laughs and greater attention.

Any volunteers?!!?

How would you take advantage of Smith's upcoming national tour?

Note everything he says and expose the flaws in any arguments he makes to support any votes he cast, especially the war on Iraq.

Have someone in a chicken outfit follow him around.

OK, that's been done.

You have to be very careful using theatrics. They can be effective, but if they are not used wisely and with discretion they will turn many people off.

Gordon Smith 2008 is in a similar position as John Ensign in 2006. Like Ensign. Smith is vulnerable - Both represented swing states. Both won due to lack of top tier Democratic challengers. Ensign- (Berkley,Goodman,Gibson,Perkins,and Titus took a pass. Smith- Kitzhaber and Defazio have tooken a pass. Bluemenaur has yet to make a decision.

Kari--

Gordon Smith claims to represent Oregonians. Yet during the last Congressional recess, he found time to spend just part of one day visiting Oregonians.

Now Gordon Smith is going on a national tour to meet wealthy donors around the country.

Smith makes it a point to hobnob with out-of-state donors and gives Oregonians the short shrift.

Who does Gordon Smith really represent?

Gordon Smith--the absentee Senator.

Ensign first ran for the US Senate 1998 narrowly losing to Harry Reid. In 2000 when Nevada's other Democratic Senator Richard Bryan retired. Ensign ran for that seat. The Democrats nominated a trial lawyer- Ed Bernstien. Had ex Governor Bob Miller ran Ensign would have lost in 2000.

Smith first ran in a special election to replace Packwood. narrowly lost to Wyden. ran for the open seat - Hatfield. narrowly defeated a wealthy businessman Bruggere. 2002- Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury ran instead of John Kitzhaber.