Honor Thy Neighbor

[May 7th, 2008]

Both women are corporate lawyers.

They live on the same leafy Northeast Portland block in the Laurelhurst neighborhood. They’re card-carrying members of the Democratic Party. But they’re in opposite corners, geographically and politically speaking.

On the north side of Northeast Hassalo Street is Michelle Druce, whose lawn sports not one, but two blue-and-green “Jeff Merkley Democrat for U.S. Senate” signs. On the south side is Stephanie Vardavas, who proudly displays a blue-and-white “Steve Novick Democrat for U.S. Senate” sign.

Both women are adamant they’ve picked the Democratic primary candidate who will win and go on to face Republican two-term incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith. One of them will be wrong in less than two weeks.

With ballots due May 20, the race between the leading candidates in the primary for U.S. Senate is heating up. Pitched battles full of name-calling and finger-pointing are being waged on behalf of both candidates on the blogosphere, in television advertisements and in news accounts (for the latest on Merkley’s record of hiring, go to wweek.com/wwire/?p=11791).

But in smaller skirmishes along liberal Portland redoubts like Hassalo Street, the scuffle is much more low-key. The Hatfields and McCoys would call it downright peaceful.

“I think they’re misguided and I think they probably think the same about me,” Vardavas says. “But in two weeks, we’ll be on the same team.”

The campaigns for Novick and Merkley have stressed several contrasts between Merkley, the Oregon House speaker; and Novick, a political consultant, on issues such as immigration and taxes on capital gains. But both men agree that they want to end the war in Iraq quickly, promote universal health care and roll back the Bush administration tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest Americans.

Vardavas and Druce seize on the contrasts.

Novick, for example, has proposed lifting the cap on Social Security taxes so that millionaires will have to pay taxes on all of their income, not just the first $100,000. Merkley opposes that measure, saying Social Security is solvent and the $100,000 cap should remain.

“The little guy is going to cost me money,” Vardavas says of Novick, who is 4-foot-9. “But that’s OK with me because that’s the price of admission to the country I want to live in.”

Druce calls Novick’s stance on taxes “concerning.”

Another difference is the two candidates’ style.

The Merkley campaign accuses Novick of attacking fellow Democrats such as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in pointedly public criticisms. Novick fans don’t see that as a problem. “I love his style,” says Vardavas, who regularly comments on political blogs under the handles “Portlandia” and “Stephanie V.”

Druce appreciates Merkley’s collaborative nature, calling him “extremely down-to-earth” and “policy-oriented,” someone who puts his “nose to the grindstone.”

“He really gets things done,” Druce says. “I think he has a better grip on what families struggle with.”

Both are preparing for the possibility that their guy might lose on May 20.

“It’s really nice that we have real choices,” says Druce.