From The Hotline Latest Edition for Wednesday, April 30,2008

OREGON

Smith Wants You To Know: He Can Work With Anyone

Wed. Apr. 30, 2008


Sen. Gordon Smith (R) is up with his first TV ad, by Chris Mottola. Full script "Get It":

SMITH: "Partisan fighting, gridlock. That's Washington's answer to your problems... not mine. I get it. I am Gordon Smith and I've shown a better way. Thinking independently working with Democrats and Republicans. I approve this ad because no matter who our next president is -- him or her, I will find common ground for the change we need." ANNCR: "Senator Gordon Smith Common Ground for the Common Good" (Hotline sources, 4/30).

TV Stations Just Can't Hire Good Help These Days

With just 3 weeks to go until the primary, ad wars in the race "are heating up." On 4/28, ex-DoJ enviro atty Steve Novick (D) "took direct aim" at state House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D) for his '03 vote on a resolution that expressed support for the troops, while acknowledging "the courage of President George W. Bush" in launching the Iraq war. In the ad, filmed at an airport, Novick tells voters that, "unlike my opponent, I would never praise George Bush for invading Iraq. With me, you can expect real change on the big issues."

On 4/29, ex-Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA), who was in Portland to campaign for Merkley, called the Novick ad "a last-ditch effort to make something out of nothing. When you start throwing dirt, you're losing ground." Cleland "called the 2003 resolution a classic example of a time-tested GOP tactic: Putting two separate ideas into the same proposal, including one that's so popular -- like supporting the military -- that there's virtually no way to vote against it." Cleland: "Years later to pick out this vote focused on supporting the troops with a Republican barb and hook in there is unfair and misleading."

Novick mgr. Jake Weigler said the ad reflects "a basic disagreement about (Merkley's) record, which goes to the respective principles of the two candidates. Steve was asked on the first day of his campaign whether he would have voted (for the resolution), and he made it clear that he would not have done so."

The ad aired once, during KGW's morning news program 4/28. Weigler said the spot ran before it was supposed to, because of a station error, but the campaign was "considering running this ad in the near future," more widely. KGW confirmed the ad ran by mistake (Silverman/Cain, AP, 4/29).