Chairman Dean on the Oregon Senate Race

Jeff Alworth

Part two of our conversation with DNC party chair Howard Dean touched on the Senate race between Jeff Merkley and Gordon Smith.  As you'll see, Dean was direct an unequivocal.  One thing you can't hear in a transcript is the tenor of the conversation, and when Dean spoke about this race, he started to get passionate.  I wish we had had time to continue discussing things, but as soon as he took a breath, we got word that he had to go. 

Here's a transcript of what he told us:

"Jeff Merkley is running a positive campaign based on issues. Gordon Smith is running pictures of hot dogs on television.

Again, it’s like the Obama-McCain race; Smith is very much like McCain. How are you going to convince people can you be about change when you’ve been doing the same old thing for all that time in the Senate?

Gordon Smith and John McCain merely pretend they’re moderate and then they talk about how often they’ve voted with Bush. I don’t know what the numbers for Smith are, but I know McCain voted for Bush 75% of the time—and I bet Smith has voted the same way. He just makes a big deal out of the three votes he didn’t go along.

 So it seems to me like John McCain, Gordon Smith, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin—what’s the difference? Why not get real change? 

And Merkley will bring real change, as will Barack Obama."

Oh, and as to how often Smith has voted with Bush--it's a lot higher than 75%.  No wonder all Smith can talk about is the furniture.

Update: Here's the video of Jeff Merkley and Howard Dean at a rally on Friday.

By Jeff Alworth Sept. 15, 2008