« Religion that Defies Rationality | Main | Is the World Safe for Moderates? »

January 02, 2008

If Steve Ran

Call me crazy but with Portland City Commish Eric Sten quitting, causing something of a Pandora's Box problem in terms of Voter-Owned Elections funding, I'm thinking that Steve Novick would be the ideal candidate.

Sten and fellow Commish Randy Leonard have endorsed Novick in his bid for the Dem slot to challenge Smith. But I don't see him getting it. And if he were to buck the odds and get it, I really can't see him defeating Gordon Smith. Oh, I think he could put up reasonably respectable numbers. I just don't think he can beat Smith. And that in large part because I don't think he can raise enough money to compete with Smith. Plus I think his resume is weak compared to Speaker Jeff Merkley's.

Portland famously launched it's own version of Voter Owned Elections in 2005 and it seems to be a big hit. I, for one, see VOE as arguably the single most promising way to impliment meaningful campaign finance reform which is so badly needed in this entire nation.

Novick could easily raise enough to be highly competitive in a City Council race. If he won (seems like a foregone conclussion to me...) he would be in a GREAT position to agitate for expanding VOE statewide and eventually nationwide. Which would be a HUGE service to Oregonians, IMHO.

Oh, and it would also polish his resume in all the right places should he later decide to seriously pursue higher office. Not the least of which would be that an expanded VOE would allow him to much better compete with $pecial intere$t$.

Just a thought...

Posted by Kevin at January 2, 2008 05:31 PM