Can a guy 4'9" tall with a hook for a left arm take out Sen. Gordon Smith R-OR?

[stevedeshazer]

Meet Steve Novick.



<snip>

Raised in Cottage Grove, Novick was precocious enough to enter the University of Oregon at 14 and Harvard Law School at 18. After graduation, he worked at big law firms in San Francisco and New York before going on at age 24 to the U.S. Justice Department. There, he was lead counsel in the Love Canal lawsuit, winning $129 million for the federal government.

<snip>

Novick's brains aren't the only thing that makes an impression on those who meet him for the first time. There's also the fact that he has a hook for a left arm (he was born without it) and is short—4 feet 9 inches, thanks to the fact that he was also born without fibulas in both legs.

So, will he run? Novick says he'll spend the next month or three talking to potential supporters and other possible candidates before making a final decision. But he does add that "someone needs to take the fight to Gordon Smith. And a fighter needs a hard left hook."

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3312/8503 /

This guy is brilliant. He can beat Smith. I really hope he runs.

[AX10]

1. Gordon Smith needs to go!

[benddem]

2. Steve Novick

is a GREAT guy. He's so smart he really impresses you when you meet him. His physical disabilities (of which he makes no mention or doesn't call to attention) don't even matter when you see how smart he is. He's been a hero of mine for sometime. I sure will support him. Go Steve

[stevedeshazer]

4. I've not had the pleasure of meeting him in person...

...but I hope to.

I've been following him on http://blueoregon.com/ .

[Doctor_J]

5. Let's not forget that Andy Coulter will accuse him of deforming himself

to get sympathy votes. It worked against max Cleland, so they will run some version of it vs. Novick

[rep the dems]

3. Once the Republicans get caught making fun of his height or his hook

he'll be even more likely to win. Sounds like a great candidate, I hope he runs and wins.

[JNelson6563]

6. Yep, like a "Maccaca" thing.

:toast:

[rep the dems]

13. Exactly.

"This fella over here, Captain Hook, or whatever his name is..." :rofl:

[pdxmike]

7. I'm not holding my breath

I'd love to see us 86 Gordo. But I don't see it happening. Smith is actually pretty popular here, and his political radar is pretty acute. Note that he got ahead of the GOP parade in appearing to abandon Bush on Iraq. Also, the media here (except for Willie Week) is completely in the bag. They'd take Novick and turn him into some mutant freek- a novelty act.

I think we're stuck with Smith for awhile. Sigh.

btw-my wife knows Novick from the City Club and other venues, and is a HUGE fan.

[gratuitous]

8. I think Smith is vulnerable

And Novick sounds like the kind of guy who might be able to take him out. Smith spent the first four years of his latest term in the Senate being a good little Bushbot, and only in the last two months has he sounded like a "moderate" Senator.

As always with Smith, it's more important to watch what he does, not what he says. His last campaign he got an endorsement from Matthew Shepard's parents, which defused a lot of objections from liberals and progressives. Then Mr. Smith proceeded to vote in favor of every hare-brained Republican bill to punish sexual minorities that came down the pike.

The major media in Oregon are indeed in the bag for Smith. But I think the progressive community is ready and willing to bring about a change in the Senate. Smith's record will be trailing behind him like tin cans behind a newlyweds' car.

[stevedeshazer]

9. The gasbags at the Oregonian think Smith shits ice cream.

But the O has less and less influence these days as more people turn to the internet for news.

I read the Oregonian every day for forty years. In the last five years, I've read it just a handful of times. It's gradually becoming irrelevant.

The final straw for me was when they refused to cover the massive anti-war protest in August 2002; then, when another protest went big in March 2003 they hired a helicopter to take aerial pictures with the specific purpose of trying to minimize the enormous crowd sizes.

[Arugula Latte]

10. I read it for the letters to the editor and the "living" section; I skim the "news"

just to see what the mainstream spin is, then turn to the Internet to find out the real story behind the whitewash.

[gratuitous]

14. Yeah, the Oregonian is marginalizing itself

It still wields outsize influence as the largest daily in the state, but I haven't taken it seriously since exactly the episodes you describe. The aerial photography for the express purpose of making the biggest anti-war demonstration look smaller, and their ensuing editorial calling the protestors "naive" clinched it for me. Their editorial stance has grudgingly acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq may not have been the most brilliant maneuver in the history of mankind, but they have never apologized for being so wrong, but more than that, being so ungracious about it.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Great post! nt

[donsu]

12. size doesn't count - what comes out of his mouth counts

and how he acts counts