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There’s a fascinating US Senate race going on in Oregon, where Republican incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith is viewed as eminently vulnerable, and two progressive Democrats are vying for the right to challenge him. Jeff Merkley is the Oregon Speaker of the House, an affordable housing advocate and former Congressional Budget Office analyst. Steve Novick is a successful environmental attorney, the US Justice Department’s lead counsel on the Love Canal cleanup settlement, a political consultant and activist, and a victorious opponent of Bill Sizemore, Oregon’s version of Tim Eyman. Both are passionate public advocates who rose from modest means to earn Ivy League educations and impeccable progressive credentials. Both appeal to Oregon’s netroots, for example, dividing my friends Carla and TJ over at Loaded Orygun. Both would surely serve the citizens of Oregon better than the Republican incumbent. I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and chat with both candidates, and find it really tough to take sides.

Forced to wager on the outcome, I’d guess the odds substantially favor Merkley, the more establishment candidate with better access to money and endorsements, but as always Novick is determined to make his perceived weaknesses his greatest strengths. Standing at four-foot-something, with a metal hook in place of a left hand, Novick’s promise to “fight for the little guy” is both ironically self-conscious, and, well, believable. No, Novick certainly doesn’t “look like the typical politician,” and in this anti-status quo year, it will be interesting to see if his promise not to “act like one” can catch on with voters enough to overcome Merkley’s inherent advantages.

I genuinely like both candidates, but I love this ad, which started airing today in Oregon. In the end, Oregon Democrats will likely make a decision as to which man is best able to beat Smith in November; if the Novick campaign continues in this theme, and manages to defeat the better financed Merkley, it will say a lot about the mood of this year’s electorate.

UPDATE:
Moments after posting I discovered an email notification that the Novick campaign had purchased an ad on HA. Just thought I’d mention it since I suppose the timing might look suspicious.

The Seahawks lost. I know, they lost back on Saturday, but apparently that’s still the big local story consuming half the front page of the Seattle Times. Also, police officers and city officials don’t see eye to eye when it comes to the disciplinary system, but anybody who’s ever watched a police show on TV knows that, and buying individual health insurance coverage sucks. Tell me something I don’t know.

Meanwhile, apart from a front page column from Nevada by Joel Connelly (apparently, not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,) this morning’s Seattle P-I looks more like a PSA than a newspaper, continuing its (laudable) campaign against artificial butter flavor, and issuing a dire warning to pedestrians not to get hit by cars.

Good advice, but does anybody actually work at the Times or the P-I over the weekend, or does nothing ever happen around here on our days off? Sheesh.

In other news, God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7PM: Radio Kos: What really happened in New Hampshire?
Daily Kos contributing editors DemFromCT, DHinMI and MissLaura join me for a wrap up of Iowa and New Hampshire, and a look ahead to the remainder of the primary season. Did Clinton simply have a better ground game? Was Obama torpedoed by the “Bradley Effect”? Or were the pollsters just plain wrong? And what kind of bump will this give Clinton heading into the heart of season? Join the conversation.

8PM: Will Washington voters approve “Death With Dignity”?
Former Gov. Booth Gardner has filed a controversial initiative based on a similar Oregon law that would allow doctors to prescribe a fatal dose of barbiturates to terminally ill patients diagnosed with six months or less to live. Some oppose this measure as “assisted suicide.” Proponents call it “death with diginity.” Gov. Gardner joins us to discuss his initiative and take your calls.

9PM: Will Gov. Gregoire’s 520 bridge proposal float in Olympia?
Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed early tolling on the 520 floating bridge to help pay for its replacement, touching off a debate on how we pay for our critical infrastructure.  Rep. Judy Clibborn, chair of the House Transportation Committee joins us to share her view of whether the proposal will float in the Legislature, and what else we might see on the transportation front in the coming legislative session.
Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

At the last Drinking Liberally, somebody asked me how much a post at Horse’s Ass would cost.

To answer, it costs this much:

But from anyone else, it might cost more. FYI.

Seahawks coverage is going late, so please tune in to an abbreviated “The David Goldstein Show” tonight, from 7:30PM to 10PM on News/Talk 710-KIRO:

7:30PM: TBA
The usual liberal propaganda

8PM: The Stranger Hour with Josh Fiet
The Stranger’s Josh Feit joins us for the hour for our regular look back at the week’s news, and a peek ahead toward what’s coming up. Did the “Bradley Effect” sink Barack Obama in New Hampshire? Will Gov. Gregoire’s 520 bridge proposal float? Can former Gov. Booth Gardner breath life into his death with dignity intiative? All that, plus a look ahead toward the coming legislative session.

9PM: Saturday night comedy with Julie Mains
If you enjoy my Saturday night chats with local comedians, you’ve got Julie Mains to thank for hooking me up with guests. Julie is the proprietor of the Mainstage Comedy & Music Club and an accomplished performer in her own right, an actress, singer and songwriter familiar to Seattle audiences. Julie joins me for the hour to make it full night of fast-talking, East Coast Jews.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

Enjoy the game today, everyone. I’m kind of torn. It’s hard not to root for Brett Favre to keep his season going, but I’d love to see a Giants-Seahawks NFC Championship game at Qwest Field next week.

This week’s Birds Eye View Contest is still unsolved. I think I have to give a clue since it’s such a tough one. The clue it’s that this town is so plain and conservative that there just weren’t any views that stood out for me to use.

Finally, after way too long of a wait, the third edition of the Crackpiper Chronicles is now posted (as always, keep sending me your favorite stupid comments, although I already have some good material for Part 4).

Brit Hume has a fireside chat with Dick Cheney:

(This and over 80 other media clips from the last week in politics are now posted at Hominid Views.)

From The Stranger, who quote Grist:

On Monday, Clinton named Joy Philippi, the former president of a the National Pork Producers Council, the main trade group representing confined animal feeding operators, as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary.

You known who’s in change of rural outreach for the John Edwards campaign?

John Edwards.

I was listening to some music, when iTunes automatically played the next file in the cue: an old episode of Podcasting Liberally from June 6, 2006, with me, Molly, Will, Carl, Ed Murray, Dan Savage and Eli Sanders. It was kinda a blast, and I especially enjoyed listening to us make our presidential predictions. (Hey Will… how’d Mark Warner work out for you?) Feeling nostalgic? Tune in and enjoy the fun:

[audio:http://horsesass.org/wp-content/uploads/drinking-liberally-june-6-2006.mp3]

[FYI, I believe this was recorded the day before 710-KIRO offered me my show.]

Can you imagine the howling we’d hear from the Seattle Times editorial page if it was Sound Transit that had flushed 97 million dollars down the toilet, and not the Port of Seattle? Or if it was Sound Transit that was under investigation by the Justice Department and not the Port of Seattle?

Sound Transit was pounded by the Times during last year’s Prop 1 campaign. After Prop 1 failed, the Times editorial page took plenty of cuts at Sound Transit and at light rail. The Port of Seattle, meanwhile, gets the kid glove treatment.

With the Port of Seattle’s recent malfeasance, you’d think the Times would be all over it.

Nope. Nothing yet.

If somebody at Sound Transit so much as palms a twenty from petty cash, they get the third degree from Balter, Vesely and the gang. Port of Seattle under investigation? Doesn’t move the meter.

Is the Oprah & Obama Show coming to Seattle in advance of WA’s February 9 caucus? That’s what the new blog Emerald City Scion wonders after gleaning this interesting little tidbit:

ECS has learned that talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barak Obama are on the guest list of VIPs invited to a post-swearing in reception for newly-appointed United States District Court (WD. Wash.) judge Hon. Richard A. Jones set for the end of this month. ECS has not been able to confirm whether either will attend the event.

I’ve joked (fantasized?) for some time that the race for the Democratic nomination will come down to WA’s caucus, but with the unsettled state of the race after Iowa and New Hampshire, that’s no longer so unrealistic. Coming just four days after Super-Duper Tuesday, WA could serve as the momentum setter in an otherwise split race. Under that scenario, an Oprah/Obama event in Seattle could pay off huge dividends.

Hmm.

I stopped by the open house at the Vance Building last night, where a bevy of progressive organizations have set up office, proving there’s camaraderie, if not necessarily safety in numbers. There was free food, always an attraction to starving bloggers, and the halls flowed liberally with booze and schmooze; it was kinda like a roaming, multistory Drinking Liberally, but with a less embarrassing ratio of men to women.

Wandering from office to office, each with their own special interests and their own particular agenda, a common theme arose in regard to expectations for the coming legislative session. It will be a busy two months the various activists and organizers told me, hopefully filled with some small victories on important issues. But the really ambitious agenda — the substantive legislation on issues ranging from tax reform to transportation to publicly financed campaigns and more — well, that would have to wait until 2009.

It was like a Passover seder (but with cheese on the crackers, and potable wine,) as a common prayer arose from the Vance Building last night: “Next year in Olympia.” Next year, I was repeatedly told, after Gov. Gregoire wins reelection, and the Democrats hold or expand their legislative majority, that’s when we can expect a truly progressive agenda. Next year, with the burden of electoral politics temporarily lifted from their shoulders, the Democrats would apparently be free to make progress on some of our most pressing issues.

Of course, a lot of things can happen in a year that can lead to an awful lot of disappointment. Voters don’t always behave the way we expect them to behave, and candidates don’t always run the kind of campaign they should. And even if we manage to keep our unchallenged hold on Olympia, the Democratic leadership there has often proven more bold at maintaining and expanding its majority than actually using it. Finally, even if an emboldened Gov. Gregoire does attempt to leave her mark during a second term, her agenda will necessarily be limited; even the most successful legislative session will leave the halls of the Vance Building scattered with winners and losers.

Perhaps I’m wrong, but if I were tasked with pushing a bill, I’d be pushing it hard in 2008, with the Democratic governor and near legislative supermajority we have now, rather than waiting for some political heaven on earth next year in Olympia. But then, I’ve never been a man of faith.

Locally, again, not much going on today. The best local story is a sordid Seattle Times piece detailing the efforts of fanatic UW football boosters to get the Athletic Director, Todd Turner, and football coach, Tyrone Willingham, fired last month after a disappointing season. (Disappointing, but predictable, given the nation’s toughest schedule.) One booster went so far as to offer $200,000 in law school scholarships if UW President Mark Emmert would pull the plug. (He did, but only on AD Todd Turner, presumably gaining the school a tidy $100 k to help offset the contract it had to eat.)

Moronic UW fans tend to overlook that along with winning, idolized former Husky football coach Don James left one other legacy: cheating. (OK, two: quitting on his team when he got caught.) And that while the wild successes of some of James’ teams mostly left when he did, the culture of lawlessness and a football program run amok pretty much continued up until Willingham, by all accounts, was brought in by Turner to run a clean ship. Obviously, the ugly old ways are dying hard.

Idle thought: what on earth does a football team (or any scholarship athlete, for that matter) have to do with a state land grant university’s mission to educate its state’s residents? Just wondering.

What else? Local TV was all over the dramatic video of a rare tornado in Vancouver, Wash., damaging property and “causing moments of fear” but injuring nobody.

The top world story: a brief moment of silence for Sir Edmund Hillary.

Nationally, American media, embedded in the Middle East with George Bush, continued to credulously report the cruel hoax that is the “Peace Process.” (Overseas, they’re not being quite so sycophantic.)

Meanwhile, the New York Times is once again doing its patriotic duty to whip up war fever this morning. Even as the official Pentagon/White House story of the kayaks and the aircraft carrier, er, “naval confrontation” between Iran and the U.S. unraveled, the Times was busily looking elsewhere for reasons to remind Americans that They are, after all, an obliteration-worthy Axis of Evil.

We now pause for a brief word from our sponsor.

In case you didn’t catch the short story (published in 2001)…now it’s out on video: Jane and the Metro Bus…a silent film.