Jeff Merkley, who last week defeated incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith in Oregon, has become the first newly elected Senator to use his campaign's email list to fundraise for Jim Martin in Georgia, a source involved in Democratic politics informs me. Here's a good chunk of the email, which I received from the Merkley campaign under the Senator-elect's name earlier this morning.

While the election is over in Oregon, it continues in Georgia. Jim Martin is locked in a tough runoff with Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss. We currently hold 57 seats in the U.S. Senate - just three shy of having enough votes to end the Republican obstructionism that has paralyzed the Senate over the past two years.  We need to have Jim Martin in the Senate to work with President-elect Obama and me to fix our economy and make Washington work for working Americans.

Help Jim Martin so he can join me in the U.S. Senate --  donate $25, $50, or $100 to his campaign right now.

Let me tell you a little more about Jim Martin: Jim is a Vietnam veteran who served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 18 years.  He has been a leader on the issue of health care and has paid particular attention to expanding access to health care for Georgia's children.  Jim Martin has never backed down from a tough fight and we need someone with his courage and compassion in the U.S. Senate.

I urge each and every one of you to join me in supporting Jim Martin's campaign.

If this is any indication of the type of Senator Merkley will be -- and I do believe it is -- then you can see why it was so important to us at MyDD to add him (as well as Martin) to the Road to 60 Act Blue page.

Merkley is a team-builder. I have seen this first-hand, with the then Oregon House Democratic leader helping his caucus pick up the majority for the first time in 16 years back in 2006. As a part of that effort, Merkley was more than willing to assist the clear underdog campaign I was working on that fall to unseat the then-House Majority Leader Wayne Scott, doing an event in the district and generally being helpful to the campaign.

Now, just a week and a half out from winning a close Senate election, Merkley is already putting his resources to bear to help his caucus and his party, fundraising for Martin in Georgia. Very impressive, indeed. If you, too, want to help out, head over to the Road to 60 page and make a contribution of your own to the cause.