Competing website! Gordon Smith is running scared.
Kari Chisholm
Wow. How terrified is Gordon Smith of the progressive grassroots?
With the launch today of StopGordonSmith.com, it's pretty clear that he's running scared.
Within a few hours, the Smith campaign announced their own competing website - DemocratsForSmith.com. There's nothing new here - just the same ol' tired folks that supported him in 2002.
According to the O's blog, the DSCC is on top of it:
Matt Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Smith "must be pretty nervous to be launching campaign operations more than 18 months before voters go to the polls.""I don't think most Democrats are satisfied with a United States senator who votes 90 percent of the time to support George Bush," Miller said.
After the jump, I've posted the list.
Call 'em and ask 'em why they're supporting a guy who opposed Oregon's minimum wage, supported drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (after promising he wouldn't), and asked John Ashcroft to overturn Oregon's Death with Dignity law.
Help tracking down phone numbers and email addresses would be much appreciated!
Here they are:
Elizabeth Furse, Former CongresswomanAvel Gordly (I), State Senator
Bob Shoemaker, Former State Senator
Mike Thorne, Former State Senator
Deborah Boone, State Representative
Tim Josi, Tillamook County Commissioner
Lonnie Roberts, Multnomah County Commissioner
Fred Warner, Baker County Commissioner
Nikki Whitty, Coos County Commissioner
Jimmie Baker, Mayor of Sheridan
Rob Drake, Mayor of Beaverton
Phil Houk, Mayor of Pendleton
Lewis Key, Mayor of Milton-Freewater
Richard Kidd, Mayor of Forest Grove
Robert McPheeters, Mayor of Tillamook
Alan Unger, Mayor of Redmond
Cheryl Young, Mayor of Columbia City
Tim Boyle, Community Leader, Portland
Thomas Bruner, Community Leader, Portland
Nena Cook, Community Leader, Portland
Susan Cox, Community Leader, Eugene
Henry Hewitt, Community Leader, Portland
Jordan Schnitzer, Community Leader, Portland
And oh yeah: My full disclosure... I built StopGordonSmith.com for the DPO, but I speak only for myself.
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connect with blueoregon
Apr 17, '07
Why bother with Lonnie Roberts? We already know he's never in his office and his Chief of Staff tells him what to do. Can we do a recall?
Apr 17, '07
Kari, do we know if these people currently support Smith, or is it just a Rolodex dump of all the Dems who've ever said something nice about him? (I'm dimly remembering a story of a Black People for the GOP organization whose steering committee listed some black people who'd never heard of the group.)
Apr 17, '07
Question for Ms. Furse: You state "Principled Democrats should be proud of Gordon Smith's stand on Iraq. His voice is one of the most important that we have in the U.S. Senate." My question to you is how many more American servicemen and woman as well as innocent Iraqi civilians must die before, as a principled democrat (whatever that means here), I no longer have to be proud of Gordon Smith? Is it 100 more deaths? a 1,000? 10,000? I just need a number here to work with.
And my second question is how many of your children and grandchildren are serving in the armed forces in Iraq today?
3:54 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
Susan,
That is the list of the Democrats for Smith Steering Committee.
http://www.democratsforsmith.com/news/
Apr 17, '07
Andrew,
I got that. I cited an example of another steering committee whose members didn't even know that the group existed, let alone that they were organizing participants.
I'm just suggesting that, instead of the indignant "How COULD you?" approach, calls and letters to these folks might better start with, "Did you know your name is being used? Do you support this?" (and then, if necessary, "How COULD you?")
4:02 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
Okay we have to get out in front of Smith on this. We are doing well but we need to do better. Take it from me folks (disclosure I was Bradburys Political Director in 02).
This is the EXACT same list from 02 as far as I can tell. It is clear he is going to try to same formula.
1) He starts early. the DSCC saying "it means he is desperate" doesnt work. We said that in 02 as well. He starts early and defines himself early through stuff like this tired list of Dems. It works with the media and generally tuned out electorate who just hear a passing thing about "Dems for Smith".
2) He will go up early and attempt to define anyone who runs against him. When I say early - expect anti-Defazio, Novick etc ads in FEBRUARY of 08.
3) His team will go after Defazio or anyone who has spent much time in the legislative branch on number of votes for X. Pick your subject - Peter Defazio voted X amount of times to kill kittens. He knows it is B.S. We know it is B.S. But Jane Voter doesnt.
4) He will run different ads in different parts of the state early. We need to be ready for this. Tivos with Home Media Option 6.2 (shameless plug you can immediately convert Tivo recordings to web clips). We need to catch him on this B.S.
Alrighty those are my thoughts.
Apr 17, '07
Tim Boyle is a democrat? Jordon Schnitzer is a democrat?
Bwwwwaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!
4:39 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
Feel free to compare:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://gordonsmith.com
5:03 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
If someone has time on their hands and the ability to check registrations, it would be interesting to know if all of these "Democrats" have stayed as registered Dems for the past, oh say six years. A lot of my business friends bounce back and forth based upon what primary they want to vote in and I would not be surprised if some of these folks have done the same. Perhaps they forgot to change back to Democrats.
And isn't Gordly an independent now?
5:09 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
Gordly is an independent.
Most of these names are difficult for the average person with voter file access to check -- they have nicknames as their first name, it is a common name, etc.
It would take someone who would be able to tell which person is the one we want. Like someone who knows their full name, where they live in Portland, etc.
8:13 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
If I remember correctly when I looked Boyle gave a good chunk of money to Mitt Romney's campaign. I'd hardly call him a Democrat.
I will fully support the idea of contacting these people who Smith claims are backing him if it's done in a polite way.
8:38 p.m.
Apr 17, '07
7 BOYLE, TIMOTHY PORTLAND OR 97207 COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR $4,200 W. Mitt Romney 8 BOYLE, TIMOTHY PORTLAND OR 97207 COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR $-2,100 W. Mitt Romney
4:33 a.m.
Apr 18, '07
Just goes to show you can't necessarily rely on someone's party affiliation.
I'd planned to go look him up in the statewide C&E database, but it looks like the page is down -- maybe for some overnight maintenance.
I did look up his federal money giving, though.
He gives to Blumenauer. And Hooley. And Wyden. He gave to Al Gore for the 2000 race. But to Bush for the 2004 race.
His donations are all over the board.
You can search people's giving to federal PACs and candidates here: http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/advindsea.shtml
1:19 p.m.
Apr 18, '07
The following from that list were Democrats for Smith in 2002. Those with the (SC) next to their name were Steering Committee members.
Avel Gordly Mike Thorne (SC) Lonnie Roberts (SC) Rob Drake (SC) Robert McPheeters (SC) Cheryl Young Henry Hewitt (SC) Jordan Schnitzer (SC)
Click here to see the entire listing from 2002.
Apr 18, '07
Susan Cox, Community Leader, Eugene
I believe this is Susan Soon-keum Cox, Vice President of Public Policy & External Affairs for Holt International Adoption Services (which is based in Eugene). She does a lot of lobbying work in WDC, and has extensive political ties throughout the US.
<h2>I've done work with her in the past on adoption issues.</h2>