The Politics of Wyden and Smith

Jeff Alworth

The cool thing about blogs is that they let you participate real-time in interesting conversations.  It can also be a downside, because it's hard to pull all the pieces together in a cogent way.  Let me give it a shot on a development over at MyDD, where there's a good one going on about Ron Wyden and his Democratic street cred.  In one corner, we have veteran blogger Matt Stoller, who charges that Wyden is soft on his fellow Senator, Gordon Smith.  He cites a quote by Wyden's chief of staff, Josh Kardon, in the Bend Bulletin saying that Wyden "will not actively campaign against Smith in 2008."  Elaborates Stoller:

It's really quite problematic that Senators play this kind of game. Now I like Senator Wyden.  He was there for us on net neutrality, for instance, and he means well in the Senate, pushing on issues that we care about.  There's just this problem of 'insider-itis'.  It's a basic choice, if you want to put progressive policy through the Senate you try to get progressive Senators elected to replace conservative ones. If you want to maintain the status quo then no progressive policy is going through the Senate in the next ten years.  There's just no middle ground, as much as Wyden might like to carve some.

This elicited a response from a guy you might have heard of, Kari Chisholm.  Writes for some blog in Wyden's home state, apparently.  Anyway, in the rebuttal, Kari pointed out that it's good for Oregon that the Senators have a civil relationship:

Out of every six years, Gordon Smith will be in-cycle two years and Ron Wyden will be in-cycle two years.  If they start bashing each other during election years, they'd be at war for four years out of every six.  (And good luck making peace during the other two.)  If they - and more importantly, their staffs - are going to get basic nonpartisan things accomplished (especially for a small state like Oregon) they've got to get along.

He also did a pretty handy job of dismantling the "soft" charge, pointing out that Wyden's political efforts added a million dollars to the DSCC coffers in '06, and that he helped elect Kulongoski and win back the Oregon House. 

I'll say it again:  I am absolutely, positively 100% certain that Senator Ron Wyden will do everything he can to help Oregon's Democratic candidate defeat Gordon Smith.

But he'll do it in his own quiet way, putting his political operation in play, introducing the candidate to the right people, and making a critical contribution to the effort.

Just don't expect him to go around bombing Gordon Smith at every turn.  Heck, that's our 2008 candidate's job.  After all, in 2008, we want our candidate to take the lead and look like a strong alternative -- not Ron Wyden.

(Emphasis Kari's.)  There's one other point Kari didn't make that I'll mention.  Politics is not purely about elections. In fact, the ultimate goal is to be in a position to lead and make laws; elections just decide who get to do that.  For most of the time he's been in office, Wyden has either been in the minority or in a very closely divided majority.  Holding his seat has only been a part of the battle.  Matt has often rightly criticized Democrats who refuse to take a stand and lead.  But leadership doesn't always mean ostentatious partisanship.  Wyden has tried to strike the right balance.  Has he?

If you want to get in on the discussion, go to MyDD and weigh in on Matt's post or Kari's.
 

By Jeff Alworth April 17, 2007