Steve,

This morning Governor Tim Kaine, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, called me to congratulate us on bucking national trends by electing John Kitzhaber as Governor and re-electing our entire Democratic Congressional Delegation. He told me we are "a bright spot in a tough election."

Under the leadership of Trent Lutz, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Oregon and campaign director of Oregon's Democratic Coordinated Campaign, we had an unparalleled field and volunteer plan that made all the difference in this campaign. We knew that races this close are decided by field campaigns and that if we worked hard every day to discuss the differences on the issues between John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley, we'd bring our supporters home and win.

Here's the story: 

In mid-August, the Democratic Party of Oregon was called upon to mount an aggressive statewide field campaign that would persuade independents, solidify support among Democrats and get out the vote among low-likelihood voters.

With the generous support of Senator Ron Wyden, our Congressmen, and individual donors, the DPO was able to establish field offices and dispatch staff across the state to connect with volunteers like you and get the job done.

With your help and the help of dozens of partner organizations, we made a total of over 446,000 contacts by phone and over 303,000 door knocks. The result?

That’s the power of field operations and grassroots organizing. For months we worked to get the word out about John Kitzhaber and our Democratic candidates on the phones and at the doors, and Tuesday's victory was the fruit of those labors.

Thank you for everything that you did over the course of the campaign.

Yours in democracy,

Meredith Wood Smith
Chair, Democratic Party of Oregon

Paid for by the Democratic Party of Oregon • www.dpo.org • Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee

In the article Assessing midterm losses, Democrats ask whether Obama’s White House fully grasped voters’ fears By Karen Tumulty and Dan Balz Washington Post staff writers, I found a paragraph that triggers my disdain for how political reporting is done.  I sent the authors the following email:

The following quote epitomizes what is wrong with political reporting these days.

“But there will be many tough calls to make as Obama tries to decide how far he can go toward compromising with the Republicans without alienating the left in his own party.”

You think that politics is all about wining and losing elections. Did you ever stop to think that politics is about governing the country?

You could just as easily have said:

“But there will be many tough calls to make as Obama tries to decide how far he can go toward compromising with the Republicans without destroying his plan for repairing the country’s economy.”

Both statements may be true. One shows that politics is a game of winning and losing. The other shows that politics is about governing to promote the success of the country.

If cynicism has deprived you of the ability to relate to what is important, perhaps it is time to transfer to a different beat.

I cannot imagine Walter Cronkite or any of the leading news anchors of his time (except perhaps for David Brinkley) treating, on the air, the serious issues of politics and governing of this country as something to laugh at and trivialize while ignoring the importance of the impact on the future of the country and the world.

President Barack Obama has learned the lesson.  He is putting more effort into explaining what he is doing.  In The New York Times column Exporting Our Way to Stability, he explains the reason for his Asian trip.

AS the United States recovers from this recession, the biggest mistake we could make would be to rebuild our economy on the same pile of debt or the paper profits of financial speculation. We need to rebuild on a new, stronger foundation for economic growth. And part of that foundation involves doing what Americans have always done best: discovering, creating and building products that are sold all over the world.

Perhaps you read the idea of exports powering our way to the future on this very blog. In my August 2 post titled Defining Prosperity Down, I said the following addressed to my friend ScottC:

So what will power our economy in the future?  It has to be exports.  There are places in the world where this over consumption from a real estate bubble did not happen.  In fact there is under consumption in these places compared to the rising real wealth (standard of living) of the people in those countries.  You probably know from your own experience with coworkers and customers that India, China, Korea, and Viet Nam are growth areas, to name a few.

Also look at the April post Romer: Recovery to be export fueled and the January post Capitalism Is The Path To Prosperity.

The Los Angeles Times published the “news” story, A tale of two housing busts: Why is California recovering and Florida still struggling? Now here is a newspaper with a story to sell, oops tell.

On page 1 of the story, you have:

But in the last year or so, California’s housing market, though still weak, has begun recovering, while Florida’s remains on the critical list.

There are several reasons for the difference, but many experts say a key one is the approach to foreclosure.

California keeps things less complicated and largely outside the courtroom, making it easier for banks to seize and resell homes. Like 22 other states, Florida requires that repossessions be approved by judges, which some argue provides extra protection for homeowners but can delay the process for months.

Other reasons they say.  What could they possibly be?  They give you two pages to think of your own other reasons.  Then on page 3, they say:

Faster foreclosures are only one factor boosting California’s housing market. The industry has been buoyed by the state’s more diverse and dynamic economy, and the coastal cities didn’t get the kind of unrestrained development that Florida’s beachfront cities saw.

“The enormous amount of speculation that occurred in Florida certainly contributed mightily to the decline, whereas in California you never had quite the tremendous supply of condominiums, and certainly there weren’t as many along the water,” said Lewis M. Goodkin, president of Goodkin Consulting Corp., a real estate research and advisory firm in Miami.

“Prices jumped dramatically, and now people are buying for 50 cents on the dollar, and I still don’t think it’s a bargain,” he said.

Did I mention the trouble buying hurricane insurance in Florida while there has been no problem with earthquake insurance in California?  I guess I didn’t, and neither did the Los Angeles Time.