Political Desk

Published: May 3, 2008

By JULIA SILVERMAN
The Associated Press

PORTLAND — Oregon Sen. Gordon isn’t waiting for Democrats to pick a candidate for him to face off in November.

On Friday, the Smith campaign launched an ad that takes equal aim at the two Democrats vying to challenge Smith, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley and Portland lawyer and activist Steve Novick.

In the ad, a male narrator questions whether Merkley and Novick can truly claim to be the “candidates of change,” the buzzword that every politician seems to be trying to appropriate.

The ad dings first Merkley for accepting campaign contributions during the one-month legislative session in February, then Novick for a newspaper profile that alleged that he “doesn’t just tolerate taxes, he celebrates them.”

But the ad leaves out a few key points. Merkley voluntarily did not take money in the February session from lobbyists and others with an interest in legislation. He did raise funds from other individuals, citing an opinion from the legislature’s lawyers that the fundraising rules did not apply because he was running for a federal office.

And Novick has disputed with the characterization of the newspaper profile, though he has been a longtime advocate of educating consumers about how their tax money is spent.

Smith, who faces only token opposition in the GOP primary, has made it clear he intends to use some of his $4 million-plus campaign cash on hand to go after his Democratic rivals now rather than waiting for the fall campaign.

In a statement, Smith’s campaign spokesman said that the ad “shows voters what they need to know about Jeff Merkley and Steve Novick,” after nearly a year in which Smith has been silent in the face of the Democrats’ attacks on his record.

But Jake Weigler, Novick’s campaign manager, said the ad, “makes clear that Gordon Smith knows he can’t run on his record. The fact that that he would claim that he is an agent of change after sitting in Washington and doing nothing for 12 years is almost laughable, if the results weren’t so stark for America.”

And a spokesman for Merkley, Matt Canter, accused Smith of “lying about Jeff Merkley’s record out of the box.”

“He (Merkley) went beyond what he had to do, and refused even a penny from lobbyists in Oregon while Gordon Smith was collecting contributions from lobbyists in Washington, D.C.,” Canter said. “It is the height of hypocrisy from Gordon Smith.”