DeFazio. Senate. 2008.

Now here's a nice bit of news:

The "Draft DeFazio for Senate" movement is officially launched.

Drop over and check it out. Add your name to the petition calling on Rep. DeFazio to throw his excellent progressive hat into the ring against Oregon's junior senator in 2008.

And--this is the important part--while you're there, make a contribution, even a modest one, to the cause via ActBlue.

Here's why even a modest contribution--even five bucks--makes an important difference right now. One of the reasons that DeFazio is hesitant to run is that, under normal circumstances, raising the money to run a state-wide race would be a full-time job for the next year--and he's already got one, as chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, among other things. (Funny thing--House leadership takes up a lot more time since the Dems took charge).

Our job--yours and mine and the Draft DeFazio blog--is to demonstrate that these are not normal circumstances. People-powered support--a lot of us, linked like this, who will give even a token amount now to show our willingness to contribute when the time really comes, a few months down the road--is available to help DeFazio raise the kind of cash necessary to take Smith on.

Buy one less fine, hand-crafted Portland microbrew tonight at happy hour--there's your five dollars right there.

This is a chance to do something extraordinary--something good for Oregon, and (by nurturing an alternative to the small-group-of-big-donors model of fundraising) do something good for Oregon politics, too.

Stop over at the Draft DeFazio blog, get the whole story, and get involved.