Novick has run a campaign that has been brilliant....at times. There is a lot to like about Steve as our nominee. He is certainly a break although I disagree with Novick's over the top rhetoric and position on tax relief for Africa I do think he has much to offer.

Kevin, the point that Merkley is running zero ads is doing about the same as Novick is hardly a stellar endorsement of Merkley. Why wasn't he running ads? Say what you want about Novick and I certainly have but at least he has tried to win this race. Merkley has won the endorsements but Novick has gone out and try to win the people. For all of Novicks failings, his campaign has been exciting.

Wonkette also featured Novick's campaign today.

With a few notable exceptions, national media noses are just beginning to sniff around Novick's campaign. This is the kind of earned media that will only multiply (exponentially) if Steve is the nominee.

"... and have helped vault him to a double-digit lead in recent polls."

Kevin, the goal is to win the Primary, THEN win the General. So what if Jeff can get better polling against his ghost opponent Smitty during the Primary season, especially if Jeff gets taken out in the Primary by the hook. Looking more and more likely that the unlikely Novick wins this one. Obama has coattails, and they will bring Novick more than they will Jeff.

"The beer ad was funny. But it doesn't seem to have been politically effective. Novick had the airwaves to himself early this year and was running a couple of funny ads. Yet Merkley, running zero ads, gained ground against Gordo in the Rassmussen public opinion polls at nearly the same rate that Novick did."

What Kevin meant to say was that Novick's ability to captivate attention from periodicals like Fortune is just the kind of thing that will bring in national interest to this campaign should Novick win the nomination. What Kevin also meant to say is that Merkley wished he was half as interesting as Novick. What Kevin further meant to say is that Novick deserves points for claiming the initiative over and over again in this campaign, including being the first candidate to run ads -- and eye-catching ads at that.

The above quotation must have been tongue and cheek. How else can someone dis the campaign tactics of the candidate who was less known in the state, had far less institutional support, and had far less money too ... and yet somehow placed himself in a statistical dead heat with the prohibitive favorite only one week from the primary?

So far most of the cool media is from Right-leaning sources. Fox News. Fortune. The Oregonian Editorial Board. Attacks on Merkley by Gordon Smith and Reinhart.

I know he got the WWeek, who departed entirely from journalism to launch his campaign in unprecedented fashion. But generally, the earned media seems more right-leaning.

Several possible explanations:

1. I'm just wrong on interpreting the data
2. Pyramid Communications, Novick's inside-baseball p.r. recent employer, has relations with those outlets, and they just happen to be right-wing.
3. The Stefanie V. interpretation: "he's just more interesting," particularly to right-wingers apparently.
4. Some right-wingers would like to paint Democrats as being like Steve Novick: "anti-corporate," a bit mean, Harvard-educated, and unapologetically voicing for the New Deal.

Maybe it's a combination of several of those. But each right-wing outlet Novick plug makes me a bit nervous.

http://rgweb-c.registerguard.com/blogs/index.php/capnote/comments/pollster_finds_novick_merkley_race_up_in_the_air/

“I would rate Novick a very slight edge,” Hibbitts told the Portland Tribune, which along with Portland’s KPTV commissioned the survey. “This race is very much up in the air.”

`````````` http://www.ridenbaugh.com/

Bearing in mind the margins of error, the high votes for the other candidates and the massive undecideds, the take-away from these polls seems obvious: No one knows what the hell is going to happen.

So far most of the cool media is from Right-leaning sources. Fox News. Fortune. The Oregonian Editorial Board. Attacks on Merkley by Gordon Smith and Reinhart.

Maybe it's a combination of several of those. But each right-wing outlet Novick plug makes me a bit nervous.

Thanks for that, Kari or whoever you are.

I won't be voting for Merkley in the primary or in ANY OTHER race.

"Relatively obscure political campaigns wouldn't spend a dime on running ads if they didn't believe that doing so would result in better name ID. Novick ran ads early this year, Merkley didn't. So why didn't Novick's increased name ID translate into measurably greater performance compared to Merkley in polling done during and after his TV ads ran (which is when you'd expect them to produce their greatest effect)?"

Um. If Novick was a relatively obscure political campaign whose campaign strategy didn't work, and if despite that, he's now running neck and neck against a less obscure, better funded opponent, how would you explain it, Kevin? Is it simply because the Oregon public recognizes that Novick is both much more talented than Merkley and a zillion times more interesting? Is that your point?

(Sorry to be sarcastic, but you've been blasting Novick nonstop for months even when you have no leg to stand on. You might want to sit back, take a breath, and try to be a tad more evenhanded. We already have one Lanny Davis. Do we really need two?)

If he is good for the Carlyle group he is good enough for me

I think its a great article! Its awesome (and telling, I think) that Steve is already getting so much national press.

As far as why Steve's "earned media" tends to be more right-leaning, this is a ridiculous statement. Stephanie V pointed to some of the not-so-right earned media that has come Steve's way, but also it just makes sense that more attention will be given to a story when it is a right-leaning source running a positive story on a progressive democrat. It just makes sense.

Kevin,

I really don't mean to feud with you. I'm only saying that what should characterize us as Democrats, among other things, is evenhandedness. I've made no secret of the fact that Steve and I are very close friends, and that gives me a bias. But I've also tried to give Merkley his due -- and that includes talking about him in a much more positive light, say, than Hillary, who is driving me to distraction with the way she has been campaigning (Merkley, for example, has never compared Novick invidiously to Smith, whereas Hillary has compared Barack invidiously to "Commander and Chief" McCain).

Whether Merkley or Novick is the better candidate is less important than whether we, as progressives, remain committed to the truth. Sometimes, I feel, you've crossed the line in favor of uber-spin. You'll note that I've never picked a bone with Merkley as a legislator, other than to say that I didn't care for "the resolution," because I didn't want to spin about things I know very little about; and no non-Oregonian knows much about other states' legislators. I hope that if Steve wins the primary, and he's obviously got more or less a break even chance to do just that, you can get behind him 100% but never forget to give Smith is due. In the long run, I think it's more effective advocacy.

With all sincerity, shalom.