Dear Friends,
A little over a year ago, I started asking each of you -- one by one -- to suspend disbelief and help to do something almost ridiculously improbable. I asked you to defy conventional wisdom, the Washington, D.C. political establishment, and a good chunk of the Oregon political establishment, and help elect a guy who has never held elected office, and who has no personal wealth, to the United States Senate.
Your response has been amazing. You have stunned the political world -- not just our Oregon world, but an entire nation of political observers. You have created a new kind of political animal, an "outside-in" campaign. This is still an outsider campaign, a pickup team, a rag-tag band of idealists.
But it's an outsider campaign that has gained the respect of the insiders. This rag-tag band leads in the polls, has raised over a million dollars and gained endorsements not only from the establishment at The Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, and Ashland Daily Tidings, but from the edgy risk-takers at The Oregonian, The Medford Mail-Tribune, and East Oregonian.
I am astonished, overwhelmed, and deeply touched by everything you have done so far. You have worked miracles. But as Yogi Berra said, it ain't over 'til it's over. Right now, as we speak, the Establishment is pouring money -- out-of-state money and PAC money -- into my opponent's campaign. His TV ads are choking the airwaves. And unless we can maintain a strong TV presence of our own, and augment it with a little mail, victory could yet be snatched from our grasp.
We need to make our decisions tomorrow about what we can afford to do. If I'd spent enough years in big fat law firms (not that there's anything wrong with that), I could just write myself a $250,000 check, as my opponent has done. But I didn't. So I have to ask you, who have been so generous already, to dig deep one more time. I have to ask you to give whatever you possibly can. We're counting on you -- through your response in the next twenty-four hours -- to let us know what we can do.
We are on the verge of an historic upset. We are poised to join the New York Mets of 1969, the N.C. State Wolfpack of 1983 and the Miracle Braves of 1914 in the pantheon of underdogs. We need to stretch just a little farther to seize our place in history. I promise you that I will work my heart out for the next fifteen days. Today, I ask you to put down one more wager on Seabiscuit.
Much love and many thanks,
