Steve Novick is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Oregon who has so far won every poll over his opponents in the Democratic primary. In the most recent poll, SurveyUSA found Novick beating the candidate funded by the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jeff Merkley, by 23 to 11 percent, with 12 percent captured by previously-unknown peace activist Candy Neville and 40 percent undecided.
Novick is apparently not very impressed by his Democratic colleagues. The Oregonian article below does not really capture the content of Novick's comments. Here is a verbatim transcript of the Willamette Week joint interview of the 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination:
| WW: | Steve, who would you vote for [if you could not vote for yourself]? |
| Novick: | I would vote for John Frohnmayer. |
| WW: | He is not in this room. |
| Novick: | (12 second pause) I have a very hard time answering that. |
| WW: | You are going to have to make a hell of a lot harder decisions when you are on the floor of the Senate. |
| Novick: | (31 second pause) I'd wait several weeks because I'd want to see whether Speaker Merkley continues to run the kind of campaign he has run against me ... [subsequent details omitted] |
| WW: | OK, given what you know now. |
| Novick: | Given what I know now, I would vote for Candy Neville. |
| WW: | You like Frohnmayer [inaudible]. |
| Novick: | I think John Frohnmayer, with all due respect, has presented a thorough discussion of the major issues facing the country, and his positions are extremely progressive. |
| Novick's 2nd choice: Frohnmayer |
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Senate race - The upstart Democrat does say he would support Jeff Merkley for the job
"Novick says he's a Frohnmayer fan"
April 12, 2008
JEFF MAPES
Democratic Senate candidate Steve Novick says the most qualified candidate in the race besides himself is not one of the other Democrats but independent John Frohnmayer.
Novick, a Portland lawyer and consultant, does say that he would back his chief rival, House Speaker Jeff Merkley, if he wins the nomination. But he told The Oregonian on Thursday that Frohnmayer "would be a better senator than Jeff Merkley."
Novick's views, first broached in a Willamette Week interview posted on the Internet, is another example of Novick's willingness to break with his party. His comments also raise questions about whether the Democrats will have trouble unifying after the increasingly antagonistic primary campaign.
Novick, Merkley and two other candidates in the Democratic primary, Candy Neville of Eugene and David Loera of Salem, were asked in the weekly newspaper's joint endorsement interview who in the room they would support if they couldn't vote for themselves.
Merkley immediately said he would back Novick. But Novick said, "I'd vote for John Frohnmayer." When he was asked what other Democrat he would support, Novick paused for a long time and said, "I have a hard time answering that."
Then, after another long pause, Novick said he would have to wait to see if Merkley "continues to run the kind of campaign he's running against me."
Finally, Novick said, "Given what I know now, I would vote for Candy Neville," a real estate broker who has made opposition to the Iraq war the centerpiece of her candidacy.
Novick added that Frohnmayer's positions are "extremely progressive" and concluded, "I will vote for the Democratic nominee, but if I could vote for the person I think is best qualified other than myself, I would vote for John Frohnmayer."
Frohnmayer, the brother of University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer, was head of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1989 to 1992 in the first Bush administration. Since then, John Frohnmayer has left the Republican Party and is calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Merkley spokesman Matt Canter said Novick's statements followed past comments criticizing Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as well as his 1996 decision to vote for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader for president.
"I think Steve has shown he will take any opportunity to insult fellow Democrats," Canter said.
Novick said Thursday that he doesn't think his words of praise for Frohnmayer will make it harder for Democrats to unify around Merkley if he wins the primary. Novick said he would back Merkley because he is "a heck of a lot better than Gordon Smith," the Republican incumbent, and Frohnmayer would have little chance to win running as an independent.
Novick has been particularly upset at Merkley for conducting a poll that tests a number of negative themes against Novick, including the charge that Novick is "pro-tax" and that he voted for Nader in 1996. Novick said he supports tax fairness but Merkley is using "Republican rhetoric" to attack him on taxes. And Novick said that in the 2000 race, he supported Democrat Al Gore when he said it was clear a vote for Nader was going to help Bush.
Jeff Mapes: 503-221-8209; jeffmapes@news.oregonian.com
©2008 The Oregonian
