By Steve Duin
Published May 11, 2008
He was a rookie in 2002, a rank amateur. "I give myself an 'F' in communication skills in that race," Nick Fish said. "I'd say, 'Hi, I'm Nick Fish. I'm a lawyer and this is what I believe,' and I only succeeded in putting up five barriers for a meaningful conversation."
His 2004 loss to Sam Adams in a City Council runoff wasn't much better. "I still had the natural reluctance to share who I am," Fish said.
But while hosting his public affairs show, "Outlook Portland," over the past three years, Fish got to watch the naturals in action. He learned what resonated with people. Barbara Roberts was a revelation. As difficult as I may find this to believe, Ted Kulongoski won over everyone in the studio. And Fish came to understand something that helps to explain why Steve Novick and Barack Obama are doing so much better this year than their overly scripted opponents.
"When you stand up and say, 'Look at all the wonderful things I've done for you,' you might as well be speaking Greek to a French audience," Fish said. "People respond to values; they don't respond to laundry lists. When you put your values front and center, you also put who you are front and center, and people are starved for authentic figures in politics."
I'm so famished, several thoughtful correspondents have suggested, that I've gone overboard in fleshing out the distinctions that separate Novick and Jeff Merkley, Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the candidates seeking the state offices. Obama isn't above politics. Novick isn't allergic to the status quo. And secretary of state candidate Kate Brown isn't the Wicked Witch of the West.
So noted. But Fish -- who's running for the council seat vacated by Erik Sten -- and I agree that Obama and Novick, in particular, have caught on because they have done a far better job communicating their values to the voters.
"If we know nothing about Obama, we understand his values, who he is and what he believes in," Fish said. "People feel a visceral connection to him, a connection that's stronger than the connection to his opponent."
While Merkley, speaker of the Oregon House, has run the most sanitized, tone-deaf campaign in recent memory, Novick not only has a literal hook but a narrative one as well.
"The biggest houses in Irvington, some of the most expensive in the city, have Novick signs," Fish said. "This is a guy who's on the stump saying the rich aren't paying their fair share in taxes. Are these people dying to pay more in taxes? No. They support him because he's willing to talk about subjects that have been taboo.
"With Novick, it's the value of candor and conviction and a reasonable dose of self-deprecating humor. Steve puts front and center who he is and what he believes. He tells stories and answers questions directly. He's made a virtue out of being partisan."
And voters, as weary of plastic politicians as they are of plastic bags, are intrigued.
I suspect they've also noticed a difference in the way Fish campaigns and communicates. Before volunteering that he's a lawyer, Fish notes he's spent 20 years "helping people without power obtain justice." Asked about health care, he doesn't pull out the laundry list of competing proposals: He talks about the blessing of having health insurance when his son was born with strabismus, an eye problem, and his determination that everyone facing similar challenges will be similarly covered.
And voters make the connection. They respond to passion because they don't feel enough of it. They accept human weakness because they relate to it. And they warm to a good story when they are made to feel a part of it.
