Smith campaign releases second attack ad on Merkley's tax record

U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith's (R-Pendleton) campaign released its second ad Friday attacking his Democratic opponent, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, on his tax record, using a quote from Merkley saying he was for raising taxes and again referring to 44 votes Merkley made in the Oregon House to raise taxes.

The ad centers on a clip of Merkley on television saying, “I advocate for tax hikes every night in living rooms across Oregon.” It's a quote that the Smith campaign believes demonstrates that Merkley is a tax-happy politician and that the Merkley campaign believes was a cheap shot taken out of context.

The quote comes from an April, 2008 debate question about Merkley’s ability to stand up to voters and say he was advocating for rolling back Bush’s tax cut. Merkley campaign spokesman Matt Canter said that the Smith campaign is using the quote to distort Merkley’s record.

“It was out of context, and Gordon Smith is too intelligent not to know that,” Canter said. “But instead he is using it for political gain.”

The Smith campaign believes it shows that Merkley is for raising taxes, which is why it mentions the 44 votes that Merkley cast in the Oregon State House to raise taxes.

“The purpose of this ad is to make sure that Oregonian’s truly understand Merkley’s record on taxes,” Smith campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said.

But Canter says that Smith is using his television ads to distort Merkley’s record and distract voters from the issues. To make matters worse for the Merkley campaign, as of Tuesday Smith had $4.47 million cash on hand, and plenty of resources to continue the ad campaign against them. It has led the Merkley campaign to accuse the Smith campaign of running the most negative ads in a senate campaign in the country.

“We have interesting issues in this election, and Gordon Smith has yet to address them,” Canter said. “Instead, he is just using smear tactics.”

A poll released earlier this week shows that the ads have not have helped Smith gain any traction with moderate Democratic voters, who have been deserting Smith over the past month and migrating toward the Merkley camp. According to the poll released Wednesday, Smith’s support among Democratic voters dropped from 23 percent to 14 percent in the last month. 

As to whether a second attack ad on taxes may further alienate independent and moderate Democratic voters that Smith has been wooing in previous ads, Gilbride said that the Smith camp was not concerned.

“We’re not putting any stock in that poll,” she said. “So we’re not worried about those numbers.”