Merkley releases new campaign ad pinning Smith to financial crisis

U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) released a campaign ad Thursday that hounds Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) for not making up his mind on a $700 billion proposal to bail out Wall Street firms.

"Smith gave Bush a blank check for Iraq, and he is considering another for Wall Street," Merkley said in a statement.

Smith spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride was quick to point out that Smith has not come out in favor of the $700 billion proposal, which was touted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President Bush.

“While Senator Smith is working to solve the nation’s economic crisis, Jeff Merkley is playing politics with it,” Gilbride said. “The difference between Gordon Smith and Jeff Merkley is the difference between a solution and a sound bite.”

But Merkley’s campaign has been saying all week that Smith has not come out against the proposal either. On Tuesday, Merkley said that the proposal was essentially a blank check for Paulson to bail out mortgage lenders, with no guarantees to help homeowners affected by the crisis. Merkley denounced the plan, and since the plan was only three pages long, he said that Smith should have also read and denounced it by now.

“Under Bush and Smith, there is no accountability in Washington or on Wall Street and that must change,” Merkley said. “There should be no blank check for George Bush and no blank check for Wall Street."