Fortunately, most days on the campaign trail aren’t as rough for Jeff Merkley as Thursday was.
Merkley, one of four people vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, was in a hairy rollover accident on U.S. Highway 20 near Sisters. According to an account in The Oregonian, the Toyota Prius Merkley was riding in skidded on a patch of ice, ran into a wall of hard-packed snow and flipped over, landing on its hood.
Both Merkley and the campaign aide who was driving were wearing seatbelts, and neither was significantly injured. Merkley went on to Redmond for a meeting with the Oregon Education Association, and then to Bend for a meeting with supporters.
Ever the politician, the Oregon House speaker took advantage of the opportunity to zing his Republican rival: “I thought we did a pretty good impression of the economy of George Bush and Gordon Smith, landing belly up like that.”
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2008.
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I can’t help but wonder now what Merkleys position is on studded tires?
Good question. Being from Portland, he probably doesn’t have ’em.
I question the need for studs no matter which side of the mountains you live on. I used to have them, but for the past two winters I’ve been running on “sticky tires” and have had no problem at all. My car has all-wheel drive and ABS, which helps.
There was a time when studs were mandatory. Like insurance, another example of The Corporation – Les Schwab – having its hand in the government’s pants.
The re-paving contractors sure love ’em.
Ten Bears: No kidding — I didn’t know that. I never heard of studded tires until I moved to Oregon. Back East we got around on snow tires without studs, and there was plenty of snow and ice. My observation is that most Oregonians don’t know how to drive in winter conditions. Maybe they just assume their studs and four-wheel drive will take care of everything.