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In response to
"RC, how did Jeff get elected? He is far from being an electric or dynamic speaker. -- nm*"
by
Peglegpete
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In the primary, by the skin of his teeth.
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He had a really tough primary challenger. In the general election, it was a combination of three things:
1. He worked hard. Damn hard. I've seen few elected officials work as hard has did in the campaign (or does as a Senator).
2. Sen. Smith, the incumbent, didn't work very hard at all. He had a reputation of being a lazy campaigner, and that reputation turned out to be true from what I saw (and I was the one tracking him around the state on that campaign).
3. The Obama Wave and some very weak support for Sen. Smith from Republicans in Oregon. Sen. Smith was probably the last, mainstream, non-wing-nutty, Republican elected official we'll see in Oregon for some time.
But, I will say, he's much more dynamic in person and in media interviews. What he's exhibiting right now is how he usually is informally and in person. He's very relaxed. Probably because he knows he'll be on the floor for a very long time.
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