Oregon, I don’t know how it happened, but you have an awful junior senator. Gordon Smith voted for the war, against re-affirming Roe v. Wade and against cheaper Medicaid drugs for senior citizens. He has a 14 percent rating by the League of Conservation Voters, voted for drilling in ANWR (after promising in a campaign commercial he would oppose it) and consistently votes against efforts to increase fuel economy standards. He has rubber stamped Bush, voting with him 90% of the time, and believes that illegal wire taps are more important than America’s civil liberties. To a liberal of my persuasion, he is a political bad guy of the worst stripe. Americans need to rally for this election to cleanse the Senate of Bush-enabling Republicans.

It’s a good thing Smith is coming up for election again this November, and a good thing we have some good candidates to run against him. What follows is a profile of the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination to unseat Smith this election. Choose the one you like and be sure to vote in the primary on May 20!

OF THE SYSTEM: Born in Myrtle Creek, a saw mill town in South-Western Oregon, Jeff Merkley went through the local public schools and on to Stanford to earn a free ride to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Merkley worked his way up in local politics to achieve the post of Director of Housing Development at Human Solutions. He has been in the state congress, representing the people pf Portland, since 1998.

Merkley is now the Oregon State Speaker of the House and has, according to his website, “led one of the most effective, efficient and progressive legislative sessions in Oregon’s history.” Merkley pushed through legislation requiring that 25 percent of the energy in Oregon be created by renewable means before the year 2025 and gave tax breaks to companies that produce bio-fuels. He championed the Family Fairness Act that gave same-sex couples basic rights as well as the Oregon Equality Act which outlawed discrimination in housing and the workplace.

Merkley is the frontrunner in the race, having been endorsed by nearly all the major unions and progressive groups in Oregon. He has broken fundraising records for an Oregon challenger by earning close to $1 million so far and establishing a base of over 1 million online supporters. Merkley is the party-prototype, attempting to prove it is his turn to move to the next level after a lifetime of hard work and progressive achievement within the political system.

OUT OF LEFT FIELD: In one of Steve Novick’s campaign ads, the camera pans a row of respectable looking white guys with John Kerry hair-dos. Each of them says “I am Steve Novick” and then drops a bomb about why Oregon should vote for him. After the third politico stereotype in a row, the camera pans more to the right, centering on the top half of 4′ 9″ Steve Novick’s head. “Actually,” he says, “I’m the real Steve Novick…I don’t look like the typical politician, but I won’t act like one either. I’ll fight for the little guy.”

Novick is running as the different democrat, riding the wave of firsts this election (first black man and first women competitive for President, first openly gay man running for Senate, etc.) by being the first Senatorial candidate with a hook for a left hand and half the bones in his legs. But Novick’s less than perfect body is made up for by an exceptional mind: he entered the University of Oregon at 14, after dropping out of middle school, and finished Harvard Law by twenty-one.

Novick was the chief prosecutor in the Love Canal case, forcing Occidental Chemical to pay for the habitat they destroyed. More recently, he beat back attempts by uber-conservative Bill Sizemore to slash entitlement and education funding. Having never been on a ticket himself, Novick has organized many Democrats’ campaigns in Oregon.

The Novick’s online policy page is nuanced, creative and right in articulating current problems and solutions spanning a field of issues much broader than the hot topics of this election year. Way behind the Merkley machine, Novick faces a long shot; he’s the hyper-intelligent mega-liberal outsider to Jeff Merkley’s well established Democratic candidacy.

Like our mutual ‘fave’ John Edwards, Novick will dictate the policy discussion of this campaign, using his grasp on a multitude of issues to challenge Merkley’s credibility on the left. But Novick will also struggle for attention, probably resorting to hard-ball tactics to gain camera time. In the meanwhile, don’t hold your breath waiting for Merkley to engage; expect him to use his lead to try and coast to victory ignoring Novick as much as possible. It’s a safe tactic: under-funded, under-supported mega-liberals always fight uphill.