I absolutely hate it when OregonLive messes up and loses stories. It is so annoying. The page is all blank in the middle. Even their own site links to that page, but it isn't showing anything.

Yes, Maribeth! Great choice Senator Merkley!

The DC chief of staff and the DC press person have to deal with other DC staffers and the DC press corps.

He'll hire an Oregon person to handle Oregon media in the state office. But it's foolish to NOT have someone with DC connections managing the DC operation.

Don't forget who is the boss after all.

Marybeth: I feel compelled to set the record straight about Merkley's Communications Director, Julie Edwards. I worked for the Merkley Campaign as his netroots director during the general election and worked directly with Julie Edwards. Julie Edwards grew up in Salem, Oregon and her whole family lives in Portland, Oregon. So, it should be noted that she not only has Oregon roots but is very connected to the state of Oregon.

Thanks, Sarah. I was just about to jump all over that.

Julie is most definitely an Oregonian through and through.

I'm also always amused when people whine about the staff choices. Sure, they're important - but the complaints often sound as if the principal is some kind of puppet or wind-up doll... just pointed in whatever direction the staff send 'em.

Trust me, folks. Jeff Merkley has very strong opinions of his own. His staff provide guidance and support, but it's Jeff Merkley who sets the strategy and direction... most especially on policy.

p.s. Full disclosure: My firm built Jeff Merkley's campaign website, but I speak only for myself.

What's "DFH"?

I don't have any idea, but I'm willing to bet that at least the main downtown office will be secured. It's unfortunate, but U.S. Senators get death threats all the time.

Often times you'll find that the offices of U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives are in government buildings where they can get a very good rate on the office - or even get it free. These buildings often have other offices in them that need heavy security, which means you also have to go through security to get to the Member of Congress' office.

When I worked for U.S. Congressman Lampson, our office was in a building that was a post office on the bottom floor and other government offices in the floors above. The top floors were federal courts. We shared our floor with the break room, a large storage room of government owned office furniture, and DEA storage rooms. Those DEA rooms were filled with evidence while awaiting trial.

You had to go through security before you could access the elevators. The stairs could only be accessed via a key (going up from the bottom floor). You had to go through a metal detector and all bags through an x-ray machine. Cell phones, PDAs, pagers, etc. (anything that could be called) were not allowed upstairs.

That amount of security may have seemed ridiculous, but there were many threats of death and violence to the offices upstairs. I personally experienced one of these when a man came into our office and made a threat against the city council, county commission, Congressman, and the President. At that point, the U.S. Marshals brought me a panic button (the previous Congressman's staff had disconnected it upon his loss and their leaving the office, along with other damage). Thankfully, I never had to a need for the button during my remaining time in the office.

So just remember, this security isn't always just about the Senator's/Representative's office, but also about the other offices in the building.

The important part is this - can you get access to your Congressman or Senator? Can you make an appointment to come to his office? Can you drop by and leave a letter? My experience has been yes with Wyden, Blumenauer, Hooley, and Wu. My experience has been an unqualified no for Smith.

I've never been able to make an appointment with a staff member in Smith's office. I've been told I will not be allowed to come to the office to drop off printed materials, letters, etc. - we were told to mail them. After having the office on multiple occasions deny receiving items, we send all important items as certified and signature required. I can't even get them to take down basic information when I call in and give my position on an issue. In Lampson's office, it was standard practice to take down name, phone number, home address, and comments. I even designed an easy-to-use form for doing this. All comments from constituents were recorded in the CRM and then forwarded to staff in DC (local staff worked on constituent issues, DC staff worked on issues regarding bills, those on the "issues," etc.). Any comments from those not in the district were forwarded to their member of Congress. Smith's office barely lets you get out a comment before they hang up on you.

MaryBeth, I mean Jeff of course.

Your Oregon-centrism is showing. First you (erroneously) criticize Jeff for hiring "east coast types" without Oregon connections.

Then you criticize him for a lack of an "independent, bipartisan" approach to our nation's problems (my emphasis). (Note, did Jeff ever sell himself as a bipartisan problem solver? I thought his campaign ran pretty a pretty consistently liberal Democratic message.)

What do you want? An Oregon senator from a very blue state who works on OREGON'S problems?

Or a bipartisan independent Senator who tries to solve our NATION'S problems.