Democrat-backed anti-war protesters rally at Smith's Senate office

War critics and anti-Gordon Smith enthusiasts congregated at all of the Senator’s offices throughout the state Wednesday to voice their opposition to his reelection efforts, and, in some cases, to engage in a broader protest against President Bush’s Iraq policy.

The statewide protests, which were held in Portland, Medford, Eugene, Pendleton and Bend, were organized by the Democratic Party of Oregon, and, according to DPO Communications Director Marc Siegel, were a first for Oregon.

At its peak, the Portland demonstration had about 40 or 50 protesters -- many of whom were wielding aggressively anti-Bush, and anti-Smith signs.

Meredith Wood Smith, who chairs the Democratic Party of Oregon, struggled to compete with the background noise outside the Senator’s World Trade Center office, portraying him as a dishonest, politically motivated Bush sympathizer.

“Oregon can’t afford a senator who will say anything to win re-election. Smith has proven he cannot be trusted on the Iraq War,” she said, amid chants of “stop Gordon Smith!”

In response to the protests, Smith’s Senate office in D.C. released this statement:

“Senator Smith understands and shares the concerns of many Oregonians regarding U.S. troops fighting in Iraq.  Like the Oregonians who visited his offices today, he wants to see our troops put on a glide path home. When it comes to Iraq, Senator Smith will continue to be the consensus builder among Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.  He is working to bridge the divide that exists in Congress today and find common ground with those that will get our troops out of the middle of Iraq's civil war.”

Smith has sought to neutralize the war as an issue, aggressively criticizing the White House strategy in Iraq, but Democrats insist Smith’s rhetoric is in stark contrast to his actions, and have characterized his evolution on the war as politically calculating and insincere.

After  the Democratic leader’s brief address to the crowd, Wood Smith was asked how effective she felt these types of demonstrations can be.

“I think it’s still a way to bring attention to issues, and a way to keep them constant in the public eye and in the mainstream media, and I also think it’s an opportunity to make it clear to people that they will have a choice next November between a Democrat who will represent Oregonians, and Gordon Smith, who clearly wont,” she said, adding that despite the central focus of the protest around the Iraq war, that she believed a broader dissatisfaction with Smith’s leadership was an important component.

“There’s obviously a huge anti-war sentiment in Oregon, but I think the inconsistency issue is a problem for him as well. Gordon Smith says one thing in Washington D.C. and then you have a totally different person come back here and pretend to be a moderate, when his votes simply don’t reflect that,” she said.