Novick falls in line, embraces Merkley

In this morning’s Oregonian’s front page story about Jeff Merkley’s Senate primary victory ignored the candidacy of independent John Frohnmayer. Walsh casts the general election race as two-candidate match-up with Merkley running against Republican Sen. Gordon Smith.

Merkley should be so lucky.

The story also reports on Novick's backing Merkley and makes no mention of Novick's bitterly saying during the campaign that, if he lost, he would vote for Frohnmayer. (See yesterday's Red Electric post.)

Last night, all was forgiven as the conceding Novick said,“(Merkley) is going to be a great United States senator, and we’re going to help him.”

Could Novick's campaign remark to Willamette Week become campaign fodder for the fall?

"Merkley's major primary opponent once said he preferred John Frohnmayer to Jeff Merkley. I'm Gordon Smith, I'm trying to divide the liberal vote, and I approve this message."

By the way, the on-line version of the Oregonian story doesn’t include the quote from Novick’s concession speech. Like the print version, it doesn't mention Frohnmayer.