Smith takes on the Dems

The Smith campaign says it is in large part responding to a commercial released yesterday by Merkley, which talks about how the candidates' "very different places."

In his ad, Merkley talks about his upbringing, he was the son of a millworker, and implies that Smith-who had a more privileged childhood-is on the opposite side of issues such as sending jobs overseas and promoting health care.

So Smith finally decided to hit back.

In his ad, Smith takes on the hoopla surrounding fundraising in the February session; Merkley, who helped pass a rule which limited the ability of legislators to accept contributions during session, ended up continuing to fundraise, after he solicited the opinion of the legislative council.

Smith also goes negative on Novick, claiming that "Novick hasn't met a tax increase he doesn't support or government spending that shouldn't be increased."

Novick, who has advocated against the cap on Social Security taxes and for raising the capital gains tax rate, responded to the commercial by pointing out that in 2006, Smith received a zero on tax fairness and fiscal responsibility from the Citizens for Tax Justice, and that he was the sponsor of a 2004 bill with gave multinational corporations a one-year tax holiday.