The three frontrunners for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination came to campus last Wednesday for one of their last debates in a primary race that has almost been as hotly contested as its presidential counterpart. Those frontrunners, looking to take down incumbent Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in the general election, would be Jeff Merkley, Candy Neville and Steve Novick. They were also joined by Independent candidate John Frohnmayer.
The whisper of Steve Novick’s senatorial ambitions began with a Willamette Week cover story last year, and it has blossomed into a whirlwind of a campaign that has taken on the Oregon Democratic establishment (i.e. Merkley, the State House Speaker who was supported by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) and done quite a good job. The debate on Wednesday again showed Novick to be more prepared and better able to take on Smith in what will likely be a helluva general election showdown this November.
The fight between Novick, Merkley and Neville has largely come down to style over substance, and in the waning months of the campaign the three of them have mostly focused their campaigns against Smith, as opposed to each other. This is perhaps a necessity considering that when it comes to the issues, they’re largely all in agreement. (It’s been refreshing, come to think of it. Someone should give those two Democrats trying to be president the memo).
Let’s see here. Iraq War? Let’s bring the troops home. Impeaching Bush and Cheney? Leave it on the table, should be happening right now, actually. No Child Left Behind? Awful idea–to be mostly scratched. Illegal immigration? Let’s provide a path for citizenship. Same-sex marriage? Check for Novick and Merkley, though Neville wants it left to the states.
Novick’s style has been noted for his brashness and sometimes apolitical way of speaking his mind (unabashedly making unflattering remarks about both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is probably not the best way to make friends in high Democratic circles these days, among other things), yet he seemed more controlled and collected on Wednesday than he was in the televised debates earlier in the season.
On the flipside, Merkley, whose demeanor has been largely seen as a solid-but-stiff personality, was trying to rev up his fire. He talked much faster than I’d heard him speak before, audibly stumbling over his words a couple of times. His campaign has stumbled similarly. He could never quite get the momentum he should’ve as the guy with the power endorsements and establishment weight behind him.
Neville, now she’s an interesting one. Passionately anti-war to the point of being a one-note candidate, her debating style lends itself more to the pulpit than it does the aisle, with lines such as one given Wednesday, “Don’t our spirits just groan for justice? Mine does.” And indeed, she’s a Quaker minister down in Eugene. She is obviously spirited, but not skilled and knowledgeable enough to fight an entrenched incumbent like Smith.
The person who can fight Smith is Novick. It’s been questioned whether an up-front, outside-the-box man like him has the ability to take on Smith, but if this campaign has proved anything it’s that Novick is the only one up for the task. If Merkley can barely handle an insurgent like Novick in the primary election, how can he handle Smith in the general? Novick has proven himself the more adept campaigner merely by how far he’s gotten.
The question of his electability should by now be put to rest, at least in relation to the one-note Neville and the wooden Merkley. Novick has had the momentum and energy behind this campaign. He has won the endorsements of most of Portland’s major news publications, as well as that of former Gov. John Kitzhaber, who many will say is the guy Democrats first hoped to take on Smith, back when the question of doing it was just a whisper.
That whisper has grown, and it was clear last Wednesday that the form it’s taken is Steve Novick. Ballots should have arrived in the mail by now. If you’re a registered Democrat, vote Novick and send him to the general election. We could use a guy with the gumption to speak his mind, not speak to the polls and still get things done. His record as a lawyer and activist precedes him. His eloquence and fire outmatches any of the other candidates. And through him, we might make the displacement of Gordon Smith a reality.