Merkley Makes it a 36 County Campaign

The Merkley campaign knows that in order to beat Sen. Gordon Smith in November, it will have to build the largest grassroots organization Oregon has ever seen.

With their grassroots leadership teams in place, Russ Kelley, the campaign's spokesman, believes the campaign is well on its way to that goal.

The teams span the state, in the recognition that Merkley needs to run a 36 county campiagn in order to win. They are spearheaded by local party activists, people who have experience organizing volunteers and garnering votes. Many of the participants are legislators with whom Merkley has worked in the past and former chairs of county Democratic committees.

Despite their positions within their local communities, “the people who have agreed to do this know they’re there to serve a purpose. They are there to work, they are not figureheads,” Kelley said.

“You can bus volunteers from Portland into Salem to knock on doors, but it’s not as effective as having local organizers and local residents talking to their neighbors,” he continued.

Kelley believes the system bears testament to the campaign’s aggressiveness; the grassroots organization is but one cog in the campaign machine being built to take on Smith in November, should Merkley win the Democratic nomination.

"Every piece of the campaign is in place,” Kelley said, “and we’re moving forward, looking toward November.”