Jeff Merkley's left Medford

Paulie Brading

Alba City Park in Medford 7:30 AM: white chairs were already lined up to face the gazebo where House Speaker Jeff Merkley would make his remarks at 8:30 AM. Merkley signs were on the seats, the sound system was tested and best of all, three long tables groaning with fresh pasteries from Medford's Artisan Bakery were all ready there. Hot coffee on a cool morning in a lovely park near city hall and the Jackson County courthouse, a perfect setting for the second day of Merkley's "Change is Coming" tour.

A group of Merkley folks had arrived the evening before. They were wide awake, chatty and busy tending to every detail. Looking across the grass I saw the Gordon Smith tracker set up his camera on a tripod..hoping for a Merkley macaca moment to report. All three TV stations arrived and a couple of reporters I knew showed up too. The crowd began to grow; sounds of happy greetings, hand shakes and hugs filled the air. Channel 12 grabbed me for a quick interview about Jeff Merkley's campaign. I made certain to mention Steve Novick's stop scheduled in Medford on October 20th. Soon, every chair was filled, with crowds standing behind. The Merkely RV pulled around the corner, impressive, official, serious business was about to take place. After the staffers, Kari and Jeff from Blue Oregon bounded out of the RV. A tall smilling Jeff Merkley strolled toward the gazebo holding hands with his wife.

D-Representative Peter Buckley, from Ashland gave Merkley a strong introduction. The crowd waved signs, cheered, and broke into spontanious applause several times. Jeff Merkey, surrounded by supporters after his speech was soon in front of the cameras. Well done, well organized and right on time.

Folks from a Mission near by along with regular park dwellers began to inch toward the food as the park emptied out. Invited to breakfast, I was soon chatting with Vets from Vietnam angry with President Bush and angry about the mishandling of the Iraq War. I met a guy hoping to find "a rent" as he called it. Pockets were filled with apples and bananas and paper cups were jammed with strawberries. Their stories about why this country has to change sounded similar to Merkley's speech, oh his remarks were sincere, these people spoke from the experience of the street, of struggling for health care and a place to sleep at night. I thought of my father, a World War II veteran and my husband a Viet Nam veteran. I re-dedicated myself to the values of the Democratic Pary.

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    When BlueO speaks in the first person, who is it?

    And is there going to be a new post about every rest stop on this RV-a-thon?

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    Medford Merkely Stop written by:

    Paulie Brading, Chair Jackson County Democrats

  • JohnH (unverified)
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    This sure looks like Blue Oregon has endorsed Merkley.

    Is this now officially a Democratic Party establishment blog?

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    John H

    Go to Beaver Boundary or Loaded Oregon. The primary season has begun. Look for a good mix of reports on all the sites about all candidates. What in the world is an establishment Democrat anyway? Too many sociology classes? My "people" are members of Basic Rights Oregon, unions, environmental groups, Rotary, Chamber, retired, teachers, business owners, wait-staff, carrying a lunch bucket, loggers, forest service, and more. Define what you mean please.

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    As of 1:26 pm on Sept 18th, there wasn't even a byline on this post. Seems like Blue0 is now an RSS feed for the Merkley Campaign.

  • Taoiseach (unverified)
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    Cool it people. It's just a glitch.

    Oh, and blogs don't endorse candidates. People do.

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    JohnH's blather for today:

    Posted by: JohnH | Sep 18, 2007 12:58:53 PM

    This sure looks like Blue Oregon has endorsed Merkley.

    Is this now officially a Democratic Party establishment blog?

    A quick reminder of JohnH's wit and wisdom..

    Posted by: JohnH | Sep 17, 2007 3:16:01 PM

    ...and the other Democraps...

    Enough said... go fuck yourself JohnH

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    "Oh, and blogs don't endorse candidates. People do."

    Beg pardon? I run a blog that has endorsed many candidates in 06 and 08...

    I do think the breathless coverage of repeated manufactured announcements is a little over the top, though--especially considering the other candidates are making actual policy statements but can't seem to get that acknowledged.

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    I don;t disagree TJ, though I wouldn't want less coverage of the Merkley events, simply more of the Novick coverage here at BlueOregon. Need to feed that political junkie-monkey on my back ya know.

    ;-)

  • backbeat12 (unverified)
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    Who wrote this? I thought they would not take anonymous articles? wtf kari?

  • Merkley Is Boring (unverified)
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    Does any of this change the fact that he is boring and we need to convince everybody outside of this blog that he needs to beat Smith.

    Personally, I hope this (and many of the threads started on Blue O) generates attention from KPOJ, Oregonians and etc... now and throughout the campaign season.

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    So, three posts in the "Today on BlueOregon" box (so far) today, but no coverage of Steve Novick's Press Conference and Release on Impeachment?

    Pastries and Strawberries are great, but can we focus on issues? And a little balance in coverage wouldn't hurt either.

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    The author of the column is:

    Paulie Brading. I am a new regular contributor. My clitch.

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    The author of the column is:

    Paulie Brading. I am a new regular contributor. My clitch.

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    One important note: I am not working on BlueOregon at all today. I'm blogging over at Jeff Merkley's campaign blog.

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    p.s. I fixed the glitch, Paulie. Don't forget to select your name as the author of each post.

    Colin, never assume malice when incompetence will do.

  • Pat Malach (unverified)
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    I think it's perfectly legitimate for the chairwoman of the Jackson County Democrats to post something about Merkley's visit to Jackson County.

    But when you combine that with Jeff Alworth's daily blogs from the campaign, the coverage of Merkley's kick-off does seem to be a bit over the top.

    But again, Content is hard to manage on a blog that has so many volunteer contributors with open access. That's the point, I guess.

  • East Bank Thom (unverified)
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    Cool it people. It's just a glitch.

    One of many...

    Oh, and blogs don't endorse candidates. People do.

    Thanks for keeping your Beaver Boundaries in check by keeping the blog so gosh darn neutral.

  • East Bank Thom (unverified)
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    One important note: I am not working on BlueOregon at all today. I'm blogging over at Jeff Merkley's campaign blog.

    Does Kari speak for himself or for the Merkley/Mandate Machine when he blogs under contract for jeffmerkly.com?

    [Disclaimer: I guessing in general incompetence over malice.]

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
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    <h2>Paulie clearly stated that she began with announcing Novick's visit to the Valley October 20th. Heck, Merkley just got started sooner with his carbon based, environment destroying campaign machine.</h2>

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