Merkley loans his campaign $250K
By Lauren Lafaro
U.S. Senate candidate Jeff MerkleyLike many homeowners, Speaker Jeff Merkley is taking a loan out against a house. Unlike most homeowners, he is lending the $250,000 to his campaign for U.S. Senate.
Merkley faces a tight battle with Steve Novick in the Democratic primary, and although the Speaker has consistently led Novick in fundraising, the gap drew closer last quarter. Merkley raised over $100,000 more than Novick, but his fundraising pace had substantively slowed since the previous quarter, while Novick's took off.
The Speaker announced the financial decision in a letter he sent out today to his supporters. Merkley wrote about the emotional significance of the house, about how it led to him meeting his wife Mary, but that they decided to borrow against it as "there is no cause more important than changing the direction of our country."
Merkley noted the necessity of communicating with voters now, "before Gordon Smith seeks to distort my record and attack me after the primary."
Merkley's campaign has said from the beginning that they are running against Smith, often looking beyond the immediate battle with Novick.
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Quote of the Day
"One of the great surprises of my career came, however, when I discovered that my new colleague, Gordon Smith, was as thoughtful and kind and decent outside the political arena as he was tough and competitive inside the political arena."
- U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D) during a farewell speech Thursday in praise of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R), who was defeated by Senator-elect Jeff Merkley (D).
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Syndicate
Sad to see....
Jeff is a nice man but his campaign is increasingly painful to watch. Candidates who are not super wealthy should never borrow money to prop up failing campaigns. His desperation is sad. This is the beginning of the end for Jeff's ill-fated campaign (which has seemed snake bit from the start).
For whatever reason, Jeff just is not connecting with voters and he is going to get his clock cleaned by Smith (who has been a pretty decent senator). This assumes he gets by Novick which based on this news is increasingly doubtful.
Novick is a real Democrat not one of these Vanity Fair-liberals (sorry Jeff, sorry Barack).
Bold Move
I guess owning your own frozen foods empire makes it easier to run a Senate campaign without taking out equity on your house.
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