I'd rather an enterprising reporter ask him a different question, like "If you are against the war, why haven't you done much to try to end it?" I don't really care how many houses Gordon Smith or John McCain own. I take it for granted that people in the U.S. Senate are going to have more money than most people. Being rich is not a disqualification for holding public office.

However, thinking the economy is hunky-dory when people are hurting shows that Sen. McCain is very out of touch. FDR was also rich but understood the suffering of the common person. That's the comparison I would have liked to have seen in Sen. Obama's ad.

On the other hand, the response offered by Sen. McCain's spokesperson, in which he indirectly called Sen. Obama "an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type", made me incredibly angry. Making fun of someone for dedicating a good deal of his life to thinking and teaching--that's one of the most anti-intellectual things I've heard in a while. A society that endorses that kind of thinking will whither and die.

How many houses does Merkley own Kari? I know of at least two, if you count the one he already has in DC...

He also owns plenty of rental property in Oregon ....and my point is simple: Who cares how many homes Smith owns (which is what you originally asked), and how is that any sort of designation or differentiating factor in who should be our next Senator...there are plenty of other things to discuss other than how many homes someone owns...and trust me, if you think Capitol Hill is anything but posh, you clearly havent been in DC in the last 5-10 years. Many congressmen and senators live on Capitol Hill. As a matter of fact, the only people who "own" property in Capitol Hill are the extremely wealthy. Many of them rent it to interns and entry-level staffers...Come to think of it, not even Gordon Smith owns a home on Capitol Hill.

Kari, "funny"'s comment shows exactly why bashing Sen. McCain for owning multiple houses is a bad strategy. Jeff Merkeley is known to own several rental properties, but has also shown great concern for the plight of working-class people. (I wouldn't say the speaker is super rich, but he's definitely in better financial shape than many people.) Likewise, John Edwards is wealthy, but has been (until recently) a forceful voice for the poor.

The problem with Sen. McCain isn't that he's rich, it's that he is so clueless and insensitive he can says things like "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" or that you aren't rich until you have $5 million. And that four more years of Bush-style economic policies would risk bankrupting the country.

Argh. Apologies to Speaker Merkley for misspelling his name.

Exactly Rulial....I think comments like Kari's that trivialize Merkley, especially when its coming from someone who is so close to his campaign.

His differences when it comes to taxes, truly understanding Oregonians and taking a different approach when it comes to the economy, the war and what Oregon needs is what makes Merkley a much better fit for this environment...but to paint him as anything other than a politician (even when its people like Kari or Carla, who technically have no role on the campaign but are clearly close to those pulling the strings) makes him look phoney.

He is a different politician than Smith, and a better one in my opinion...but he isnt flawless or without his own shortcomings when it comes to politics.

OK, Jack, let's drop all the talk of houses. That is, if you can explain to all of us why McCain didn't support the most recent GI Bill. Was it because he and some friends had an alternative which only had about 13 co-sponsors? If that is the truth, why not say so?

I heard someone from Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America talking about this legislation on the radio awhile back. Bipartisan support, over 50 co-sponsors incl. 2 former Navy Secretaries.

If McCain doesn't want to talk about how many houses he owns, can he talk about the substance of his own voting record? Or does he have nothing good to say about himself because he thinks he will win more votes by attacking his opponent?

Kari, I'm old enough to have met McCall, Myers and other moderate, common sense Republicans back when that wasn't an oxymoron. I campaigned for McCall's re-election. The difference between McCall and Reagan (neighboring GOP governors) was the difference between Lieberman and Biden or Wyden. You won't get me to oppose Measure 65 with cracks like,

"If the Oregonian is trying to convince me (and you) to support Measure 65, I'm pretty sure "More Republican Governors" isn't the way to go."

Jack, you'd have a long way to go to be as much of a common sense moderate as McCall, Clay Myers, the late great Nancy Ryles, the still active Norma Paulus.

As I recall, his reason for not supporting the new GI Bill was that he believed it was too generous. He thought it would undermine retention in the military by encouraging people to explore other careers outside of the military. In other words, once you're in, you have to stay in forever to deserve good benefits, in his view. As a 14 year veteran of the military, I have to say I was unimpressed by his reasoning.

On the bigger issue, I thought his comment that you weren't "rich" unless you made $5 mil a year was pretty clueless, but maybe I'm just jealous that I didn't marry a beer heiress after unceremoniously dumping my first wife who stood by me for the 5 years that I was a prisoner of war. For a guy who gets a lot of credit for character, he sure doesn't demonstrate much.

there's an error in the National Journal article

Yes, Oregon was the third state to enact the initiative and referendum in 1902 (SD in 1898, UT in 1900)...we were however the first to use it in 1904.

Back to the topic at hand. McCain's houses are like Gordon Smith's golf clubs. It just shows how out of touch he is. The guy has a lobbyist write his economic and energy plans and has a hard time describing the number of houses he owns. Most Americans count themselves among the lucky if they can say they own 1 home. Especially in this day and age of the economy and housing market. So no you're right "funny"...GS doesn't own property on Capitol Hill...he has a mansion right on the posh fucking golf course. I really don't pity the man and his golf clubs, marble fireplace, and gold course mansion. Let's send him packing for home...the one not in DC that is. Then maybe he'll be able to finally cleanup the environmental "spills" from his food packing plant and "fix" the plant. Hell, he might even have some extra time for golf...

How many homes a candidate owns or how much $$ someone makes to 'qualify' as 'rich' means nothing. What matters is how a candidate represents the people they're elected to serve and, what their past voting record has been. Based on that, neither John McCain nor Gordon Smith represent most voters - instead, they openly represent those who support monetarily their reelection campaigns; think big oil, greedy land developers, etc. Both men are shining examples of how truly disconnected the ruling elites are.

Jack Roberts:

"He never says he doesn't know how many homes he owns. He says he's going to let his staff respond to that..."

Ah, the time-honored stall-for-time technique because you don't want to blurt out a guess.

And he has no clue what a home is? Shameless.

Randy2

"Jack, you'd have a long way to go to be as much of a common sense moderate as McCall, Clay Myers, the late great Nancy Ryles, the still active Norma Paulus."

The only reason blues don't dump on these moderates is because they aren't running now.

And is Norma a Republican? Since when?

"More Republican governors":

The sooner Bob Caldwell is put out to pasture, the better for the health of the Oregonian editorial page. It would be astonishing that he has been retained for so long, except that it's the Big O. Please, please, let him go for the buyout.

So many things wrong with the thinking in this editorial. Would Tom McCall, if he were just beginning in politics today, be a Republican? The underlying notion that the Republican party would not be what it is today if only Democrats could vote Republican in the Oregon primary is laughable. And why would we want Democrats in office who are more moderate than ones in office today? Most of them are Pablum Moderates already.

Measure 65 is a bad idea that will undermine party cohesion and identification and will lead, yes, to more Republican governors. But they won't be McCalls and Hatfields (at least one of which is pretty seriously overrated by the Caldwells of the world).

By the way, putting nice guy Atiyeh on the list of Oregon's best governors provides another good laugh. Typical Caldwell.

I think the relevant questions as regards Gordon Smith is not what he owns, but who owns him.

Kari, yes I watched the ad. It doesn't come out and say "McCain sucks for owning more houses than he can keep track of", but it definitely implies (as does your comment) that this is why he is out of touch. My point is that I don't actually care WHY he is out of touch. It could be because he owns 400 houses, or because he plays World of Warcraft all day in his parents' basement. Regardless WHY he is out of touch, it's bad for him to BE out of touch. But being rich is not a disqualification for being president, so why even bring it up?

There's been a lot of talk by right-wingers on this forum about how Democrats hate the rich. I've constantly refuted these attacks (e.g. here), because I strongly believe that Democrats don't hate the rich, and that making people contribute to the stability society in proportion to how much they've benefited from it is an entirely reasonable act and not motivated by jealousy and hatred. But ads like this make that job much, much harder.

Steve, not only was Norma Paulus an unbeatable Republican legislator until she decided to run for statewide office, I suggest you check out who challenged Gordon Smith in the late 1995 US Senate primary to replace Packwood. Perhaps the last really intelligent Republican primary.

<h2>Maybe she is not your definition of Republican, but back in the days before people yelled RINO and DINO, lots of Republicans were like Norma.</h2>