CARTOON: Senate Primary Forget Me Nots

Whoops! How could I have left out this one from the Cartoon Round-Up of Oregon's Democratic U.S. Senate Primary?

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CONTEXT: Seems Jeff Merkley's "off-the-shelf campaign" got a little jealous of Steve Novick's creative ads and fund-raising.

Candy Neville Calls On Merkley To Unplug 'Misleading' Campaign

First John Kitzhaber stepped up with a TV ad to condemn Jeff Merkley's negative campaign and articulate another reason why he supports Steve Novick for U.S. Senate in the Oregon Democratic Primary.

Now one of Novick's primary opponents, Eugene's Candy Neville, has chimed in to support the fighter with a hard left hook and condemn Merkley's "divisive" campaign.

From Neville's campaign:

“It’s a divisive, regrettable and unnecessary distraction from real issues.”

EUGENE — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Candy Neville on Tuesday called on fellow candidate Jeff Merkley to pull the plug on his negative campaign, which she called “disappointing, misleading and misrepresentative” in its depiction of candidate Steve Novick.

“This sort of ad is right out of the Republican playbook — it’s a divisive, regrettable and unnecessary distraction from the very real and important issues that Jeff should be talking about - the Iraq war, immigration, global warming.” Neville said. “I’ve been on the campaign trail with Jeff long enough to know he knows what the real issues are and he should be talking about them.”

The ad goes after Novick for his former blog posts as a Blue Oregon commentator. Neville said Merkley’s ad takes Novick’s comments out of context and ignores that they were made in his capacity as a political commentator, not as a political candidate.

Neville noted that Merkley’s ad ironically ends with the statement that “Jeff Merkley believes in bringing people together, not tearing people down — that’s the change Democrats need.”

“Jeff’s right on that count — that is the change that Democrats need,” Neville said. “He should prove it by immediately pulling these attack ads.

Top-Notch Bike Racing Visits Portland

UPDATED BELOW:

Portland cycling fans will get a chance to see some World Class bike racing talent perform this week when the six-day Mt. Hood Cycling Classic makes it's first visit to the streets of Portland today and Wednesday.

The race has the highest ranking on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar, guaranteeing appearances by the top American domestic men's and women's pro teams. The race has also been named as one of only three UCI (cycling's international governing body) women’s point races in the nation, making it an Olympic qualifier event.

Today's event, a 1.7 mile prologue time trial, will sling the racers one-by-one down Naito Parkway between the Hawthorne and Steel bridges during the middle of rush hour. That certainly should heighten the excitement/chaos factor. The top women start taking off at 5 p.m. And the top men hit the start house beginning at 6.

Wednesday's event should be quite a bit more sedate, at least for the spectators. Racers will tackle the traditional 1.3 mile "criterium" loop on Mt. Tabor. The race "bible" sums up this stage quite well.

One tough crit is the best way to describe the Mt. Tabor Criterium. Extremely winding and with nearly 135 feet of elevation for every 1.3 mile lap, it will require tremendous physical strength to win this stage. Look for frequent attacks and the possibility of a breakaway as the sprinters take a chance at getting into the race leaders jersey before the mountains the following day.

The schedule doesn't say specifically how many laps will be involved for the men's and women's races, but it looks like organizers are scheduling about 90 minutes for each race. Suffice to say the racers will know that little loop pretty well by the time they sprint for the finish. With weather predicted to be heading for the upper reaches of the thermometer, this could be a beautiful afternoon and evening of racing for spectators enjoying the park-like setting. The racers, on the other hand, will only enjoy it when it's over.

The stage race returns to its Mt. Hood roots Thursday with The Cooper Spur Circuit Race, an 18.7 mile loop with 1750 of climbing per lap.

Simply put, brutal. The stage starts in Toll Bridge Park at the foot of Mt. Hood and finishes at the Cooper Spur Mountain Resort.

Ouch!

The riders will take on the 18.5 mile Scenic Gorge Time Trial Friday. This stage will feature some of the most scenic racing available. Starting in The Dalles and finishing in Hood River, the racers will ascend the Rowena Loops, descend into Mosier and then hook up with five miles of the bike-ped sections of the Columbia River Historic Highway.

The racers will have to enjoy the scenery while they can, because the Wy'East Road Race is around the corner on Saturday. It starts east of the Dalles and finishes at Mt. Hood Meadows. The pro men will traverse 101 miles that climb 11,200 feet. The pro women will endure 74 miles with 8,000 feet of body- and spirit-crunching climbing.

Epic, brutal, stunning… However you want to describe it, the Wy’East Road Race will leave its mark on you. Stage 5 will take riders through striking transitions in scenery, from lush alpine fir forests of Mt. Hood, to the arid plains of Eastern Oregon, and back again.

The Mt. Hood Cycling Classic will sprint to a finish -- and overall winners will be crowned -- at Sunday's Downtown Hood River Criterium, an action-packed one-kilometer-per-lap course that will send riders blistering around the streets of Hood River. The start finish line will be in front of the Full Sail Brewery.

Big Hurt! Tight corners and smooth asphalt will allow riders to hang it all out. Music, food, Full Sail Ales, one of the Northwest’s best race announcers calling the race, and frenzied crowds will make this a seriously fun event.

There you have it. The weather is supposed to cooperate. Should be a great week for racing and race-watching. Get out there!

UPDATES, 7:22 p.m.

* Kiwi's Clean Up Women's Prologue, VeloNews.com
* Jacques-Maynes Wins Men's Opener VeloNews.com
* Lingering Snow Forces Re-Route Around Hood, VeloNews.com

Update: KPOJ Comes Clean On Tauber

In an update to a previous post noting that KPOJ Morning Show co-host Heidi Tauber has been conspicuously absent from the broadcast (and the rather strange attempt to pretend like she never existed), the remaining co-hosts Carl Wolfson and Thom Hartmann Monday acknowledged on the air that Tauber is done with the show.

THOM: I've gotten an enormous amount of e-mail, there's been a lot of blog speculation and whatnot and all this kind of thing, that Heidi's not part of the show right now. And I just wanted to say that you and I both miss Heidi. We love her. We're friends of hers. She no longer works here at KPOJ, and it would be inappropriate to speak for her or management or anything beyond that, but just to say that we wish her the very best and we miss her.

CARL: Indeed. And I echo that. We had an incredible time, Certainly my 14 months on the air. And you worked with Heidi back to, what, 2004? Just great times on the air, and we certainly wish her all the best. And I know she's going to be out there for progressive causes whatever she does. She's got a great heart...

THOM: God bless her.

CARL: ... and we miss her.

Thanks guys. That was perfectly appropriate. And you see? That wasn't so hard, was it? I'm glad Thom and Carl were able to convince the corporate weasels just how foolish and silly it was to try and ignore the elephant in the room.

Tuesday Tune: Everything's A Joke To You, Isn't It Son?

Weekend Update

From the fun folks at Saturday Night Live

Cartoon Round-Up: Novick v. Merkley

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December 20, 2007



March 27, 2008


Apologies to Johnny Hart and B.C.


April 7, 2008

RELATED:
*Oregon Primary Campaign, David Sarasohn, The Oregonian, 4-06-08
*Geico Insurance Ad on YouTube.

Today In Oregon

What you lookin' at?


Scars

KPOJ's Heidi Tauber Vanishes

UPDATED BELOW

Portland progressive radio station and Air America outlet KPOJ has been missing a host from its local 6-9 morning show, which featured Heidi Tauber, comic Carl Wolfson and national Air America personality Thom Hartmann (who joins the team at 8 a.m.).

Co-host and newsperson Tauber is conspicuously absent from the morning show. I say conspicuously absent because the other on-air personalities, Wolfson, producer Paul Pimentel and Hartmann, haven't mentioned her name once during the entire three hours Thursday or Friday. I also noticed that her name has been scrubbed from the website and her station e-mail address no longer works.

The morning show has also been re-branded as "Mornings with Carl Wolfson and Friends," replacing "Mornings with Thom, Heidi and Carl."

I listened to the podcast of Wednesday's 8 a.m. segment (featuring Willamette Week editor Mark Zusman), and Tauber cheerfully closed the show by saying she'd see everybody tomorrow.

If it's the case that Tauber's been dropped, it all seems kind of sudden and silent. It's eerily like Stalin trying to remove all references to Trotsky. Well, not quite like that, but you get the idea.

Why the silence? Do they think listeners wouldn't notice? Is it more budget cuts by corporate weasels who lack the simple decency to own up to their decisions? Who knows?

The complete lack of information only draws attention to the act.

During today's "Weasels of the Week" segment, somebody called up and tried to nominate the "KPOJ station mana ..." but was cut off in mid-sentence.

Clearly Tauber is missing. And it's also clear that the powers that be at KPOJ are consciously trying to avoid acknowledging that fact.

It's pretty insulting to listeners to pretend that Tauber never existed. You'd think a "progressive" radio station wouldn't behave so corporately creepy, but apparently you'd be wrong.

UPDATE:

Oregon Media Insiders has a post about Tauber. She's definitely gone. This comment from "Bill Cooper" sums it up:

HEIDI IS OK
I spoke with Heidi this evening. She told me to tell everyone she is ok. I won't go into the details of what happened. Bottomline, this business can often be brutal. This is one of those times. Broadcasters know that the ax is always overhead and it can fall at any time for any reason, or no reason.

I have been told that no one has been hired to replace Ms Tauber at this point, although there are those who are speculating that the move was made to make room for the return of a well-known female morning show news anchor who recently faced a situation similar to Heidi's.

When the brain trust at Clear Channel escorted Heidi from the building they immediately scrubbed all trace of her from the company, including killing her email and voicemail. Heidi is setting up a gmail account and I will post it here soon so her friends can get in touch with her.

on a side note...there are reports that several KPOJ sponsors have pulled their accounts because Heidi was let go. Maybe Clear Channel will see the error of their ways if their wallet gets hit hard enough!

It appears I was right. This is about corporate weasels who lack the personal integrity to own up to their decision-making. What's really sad about this episode is having to witness people you respect look the other way -- or actively participate -- when powers that be "disappear" someone right before their eyes.

First they came for Heidi, and I said nothing ...

DSCC Ad Attacks Smith

The wait is over to find out where the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is putting its money in the U.S. Senate race for Oregon. The DSCC ad takes on Republican Gordon Smith and doesn't mention either Steve Novick or Jeff Merkley, the Democrats vying for the chance to unseat him.

Mapes Weighs In On Merkley's Negative Attack

Oregonian reporter Jeff Mapes picks at the festering wound that Jeff Merkley's U.S. Senate Democratic primary campaign has become.

From Mapes' blog:

Negative advertising is always tricky in a primary race since it's sort of like a spat among members of an extended family. But the Merkley folks may feel they need to do this with the race seeming so close. The last public poll showed that it was essentially tied, although with Merkley gaining ground on Novick.

The Merkley ad goes after Novick for his year-and-a-half old blog posts that vivisected Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, among others. At the time, Novick was not a candidate and he was using his sharp wit as a regular commentator on Blue Oregon.

Novick has always insisted that nobody particularly cared about what he wrote then - and that was the theme that his campaign manager, Jake Weigler picked up on Wednesday after he saw the ad.

"It's a pitiful reflection of how much their campaign is running on empty," he said. "No one has evern brought up these comments or objected to them except for Jeff Merkley...The one dividing Democrats here is Jeff Merkley."

Merkley spokesman Matt Canter said the ad merely points out one of the big differences in the race - the different leadership style of the two candidates. "This is not an attack ad," Canter insisted, adding that "these are [Novick's) words."

Okay. Well, I guess you have to say that kind of stuff when you're trying to convince the extended family of Democrats. It's not the same as taking on a rival clan.

Read Mapes' entire post HERE.

New Merkley TV Ad Goes Negative On Novick

UPDATED BELOW

I just saw a new Jeff Merkley ad while watching the 4:30 segment of KATU news. Complete with the typical "going negative" announcer voice that Al Franken used to mock, the ad dredges up some of Steve Novick's blog posts from BlueOregon, the Democratic website published by Merkley consultant Kari Chisholm.

Unlike all of Merkley's previous ads, this negative one isn't posted on his website. I couldn't find anything on YouTube, and Chisholm's BlueOregon hasn't posted it yet, either. I guess Merkley's not so proud of this one.

In light of this latest turn of events, folks might find THIS helpful.

UPDATE, 8:20 p.m.:
The Oregonian's Harry Esteve found and posted the YouTube Video:



BlueOregon has also posted the YouTube clip and a link to a new Merkley campaign smear website that repeats the anti-Novick attacks, which focus almost exclusively on posts he made years ago on Chisholm's website.

I wonder who built that anti-Novick site anyway?

My Old Friend Bill Clinton Just Called

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, just took time out of his busy schedule to call me at home and remind me of all the things his wife has done for the rural folk "in Arkansas and New York." He wanted me to consider these things as I cast my ballot in the May 20 Oregon primary.

I'm honored by this attention but not really surprised. Bill and I go way back. Here he is (below) pulling a quarter out of my ear 16 years ago on a sunny spring day in Eugene.



Unfortunately for the former prez, this personal touch is too late. My ballot's already in the mail.

(And I must say, he's not really much of a listener. I couldn't get a word in edgewise. He just kept prattling on until he finished what he had to say, then he hung up).

D.C. Dems Buy TV Time In Oregon Senate Race

Eugene Register-Guard reporter David Steves says the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has bought $44,000 worth of air time at one Portland TV station and is reportedly in for more than $100,000, including buys at other stations.

From Steves' blog:

What we don’t know: what kind of ads they’ll use to fill that air time: counter-attacks against the Republican they’re trying to unseat—Sen. Gordon Smith—make the most sense. Since Sunday, the DSCC’s hand-picked candidate, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, has been paying for his own ads criticizing Smith. Merkley’s ads ran in response to those put on the air Friday by Smith, who went on the attack against both Merkley and his fellow Democratic Senate candidate, Steve Novick.

It is possible the DSCC wants to get directly involved with trying to promote Merkley or go after Novick. But given all its efforts to deny involvement in a contested primary—even while giving $93,000 to Merkley last fall and certainly helping him line up endorsements and access fund-raising Rolodexes—they’re not likely to come in with an independent expenditure that makes such an effort so overt.

DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on the ad buy at all.

The Oregonian's Harry Esteve contacted the Merkley and Novick campaigns for reactions:

"All I know is that a purchase has been made," said Matt Canter, spokesman for Merkley's campaign. He said he learned about it from news reporters and TV stations that sell the advertising time. "I don't have any information on these advertisements."

Novick's campaign manager Jake Weigler said he couldn't comment about the ad without knowing its content.

If the DSCC's ads are going to be attacking Smith and his pseudo maverick record, that's a great thing and a sure sign that the group is taking seriously Oregon's effort to oust the Republican incumbent.

From The WMD Stockpiles: Off To A Bad Start

Feb. 22, 2004

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CONTEXT
This cartoon is based on the World Press Photo of the Year for 2003, taken by Jean-Marc Bouju of France for the Associated Press in An Najaf, Iraq, on March 31, 2003. An Iraqi man comforts his son at a holding center for prisoners of war.