Smith tries to beat Merkley to in race to the center

Gordon Smith has carefully crafted his brand: he is a self-described independent thinker who is searching for ‘common ground for the common good.’

His party affiliation—Republican—is difficult to find on his campaign website, much easier to locate is the tab at the top, “Democrats for Smith.”

The group was first deployed during the senator’s bid for re-election six years ago, and in its current incarnation, includes a list of elected officials, mostly from outside of the Willamette Valley, which will be a key battleground for Smith in his race against Democrat Jeff Merkley.

Back in December, before an opponent was even anointed by the Democrats, Smith ran an ad in The Oregonian with a lengthy list of his supporters, both Republican and Democrats. Since then, the list has undergone some flux, but still retains two of its key members: former Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse and state Senator Avel Gordly (Gordly was an Independent who re-registered as a Democrat this cycle in order to vote in the primary.)

“Neither Elizabeth Furse nor Avel Gordley are generally regarded as centrist Democrats, but because they have worked with Gordon on issues important to them where they share common ground they are willing to overcome their differences on other issues to support him,” said Jack Roberts, former Labor Commissioner. 

“That is what makes all three of them great examples of the independence Oregonian's expect from their elected leaders,” Roberts continued.

For Furse, many have speculated—although she has publically denied—that one of the common grounds which drove her endorsement is federal funding for the Furse-headed Institute for Tribal Government. In 2005, Smith floated the Mark O. Hatfield-Elizabeth Furse Scholarship and Excellence in Tribal Government Act, which provided $50 million to the Institute.

Furse told The Oregonian that one reason she supports Smith is his vote—one of two from the Republican side of the aisle—for an appropriations bill that set a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq.

The former Congresswoman, who has been out of office for nearly a decade and is now a private citizen, has been criticized in progressive circles for speaking out against invading Iraq at the very onset of the war and consequently endorsing Smith in his bid against Democrat Bill Bradbury, even before Smith broke with the GOP and renounced the war.

Furse, Gordly and former state Sen. Bob Shoemaker were once joined on Smith’s list of supporters by state Rep. Deborah Boone, who has since withdrawn her support for Smith in order to stand behind Merkley’s bid.

"Jeff has an unmatched ability to bring together Democrats and Republicans – liberals, conservatives and everyone in between – to make a real difference in the lives of Oregonians. He is dedicated to making Oregon a better place to live and work, and he has demonstrated the kind of leadership Oregon needs in the U.S. Senate,” Boone wrote in a statement in September.

A few months before that, though, Boone said virtually the same thing about Smith: "Senator Smith is effectively working with Republicans and Democrats to bolster children's health care, improve mental health programs and improve Oregon schools. He is a rare politician who cares more about solutions than he does partisanship."

Another defector from the Smith camp was Tillamook County Commissioner Tim Josi, who left after “belatedly” realizing that “supporting the incumbent Republican for the U.S. Senate undermines the Democratic Central Committee's efforts to elect Democrats.”

Josi originally threw his lot in with Smith as a result of a lengthy personal relationship; “Gordon Smith and I have known each other for years. We both served in the Oregon Legislature together. Like Mark Hatfield, Smith is a moderate Republican and aligns politically with my conservative Democratic views.”

He says he will now support Merkley, because “having more Democrats in Congress helps to insure the final conclusion of the Iraq war; addressing global warming; appointing pro-choice Supreme Court judges; and hopefully addressing our bulging deficit.”

Boone and Josi are not the only one-time Smith supporters absent from the campaign’s most recent ad: Lake County Commissioner Dan Shoun and a number of Mayors, including Ed Gormley, Ken Hector, Tom Hughes, Kay Mordock, Irving Nuss, Les Paustian, Mary Schamehorn, Paul Thalhofer, and Mike Weatherby also didn’t make the cut.

Smith’s spokesman, R.C. Hammond, said that to his knowledge, they are all still supporting Smith.

Shoun said, however, that he is undecided right now. The commissioner recalled that a while ago, Smith sent out a form asking generally whether the recipient would support a re-election bid. Shoun, who was familiar with the senator and his work, indicated that he said he had no reason not to.

Shoun now says that he wants to hear what Merkley has to say, and to do more research, before he makes a final decision.

The list still boasts a number of others, however, although some have questioned their Democratic credentials — as well as the import — of a number of the names.

Henry Hewitt, for example, strongly backed Ron Saxton in the last governor’s race. Rob Drake, mayor of Beaverton for sixteen years, was defeated in his bid for re-election, in part due to a spat with Nike.

One Democrat on the list—Multnomah Commissioner Lonnie Roberts—provokes a sad sense of chagrin among many Democrats. “Loafin’ Lonnie” is best known for barely showing up to the office and playing golf every Friday.

Two of the biggest names on the list, however, aren’t politicians: Tim Boyle, president of Columbia Sportswear and property heir Jordan Schnitzer. Neither Boyle nor Schnitzer—both big money names with big money connections—can be said to be a die-hard Democrat. Boyle, who did contribute $4,600 to John Edwards’s presidential campaign, cancelled it out with an equal donation to Mitt Romney. In the last election, Boyle donated $2,000 to every true-Democrat’s favorite subject of disdain, George W. Bush.

Schnitzer has also flirted with other Republicans: back in 1994, he was one of Craig Berkman’s biggest supporters in the gubernatorial primary.

Nevertheless, the group is symbolic of Smith's message, and regardless of how its members are regarded in the Democratic establishment, it still paints a picture in the minds of Oregon voters.

"A list of "Democrats for Smith" is a page out of a playbook that has worked successfully for Smith in the past both as a symbol and because it reinforces a notion Oregonians have about Smith that he is not a hyper-partisan," said Len Bergstein, Democratic lobbyist and longtime Oregon politico.

One of the most striking aspects of “Democrats for Smith” is not that a number of centrists are willing to endorse the Senator, but rather its early deployment tells of Smith’s likely strategy over the coming months.

“Sen. Smith is undertaking a major effort to define himself and his opponent, almost before most people are aware there is a race,” said Bergstein.

“Sen. Smith is staking a claim on the iconic attributes of Oregon's most admired political leaders: centrist, independent, willingness to work with people from all parties for the ‘common good.’ If Sen. Smith is successful in establishing squatter's rights in this center position—in effect,  Merkley gets pushed a little to the left of center—from there Smith will attempt to paint Merkley as out of touch with Oregon issues and more tied to ominous Democratic leaders in the Beltway,” Bergstein continued.

The word ‘independent’ has made an appearance in almost all of Smith’s speeches and media, and the Democrats have been fighting to dispel what they term as the illusion of the “Smith myth,” and to ensure that Smith does not take over the center position.

“I think it is telling that Sen. Smith believes he needs to frame this issue so early,” Bergstein said.

Bergstein believes that by establishing an independent centrist position, Smith would effectively “inoculate himself against Merkley’s most potent charge:” that Smith is a partisan player, aligned with Bush.

 But that position could end up hurting Smith with the GOP’s conservative base.

“Gordon Smith being portrayed as a centrist will cause Gordon some problems with conservatives, as it did Tom McCall, Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood.  But not as much of a problem as being portrayed as a not centrist hurt Denny Smith, Bill Sizemore or Kevin Mannix in their statewide races,” Roberts said. “In Oregon, Republicans who want to win statewide elections must appeal to the voters in the center, who hold the balance of power in this state.”

Smith has already riled one conservative group, the Club for Growth, a prominent national organization which recently put down roots in Oregon. In April 2007, the Club considered running a candidate to the right of Smith in the Republican primary, and on its website called the Senator an “ignorant lawmaker.”