Elizabeth Furse

When Gordon Smith released his new campaign video on Tuesday that featured praising statements on the incumbent senator from Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Smith's re-election rivals cried foul.

Wednesday, more Democrats started accusing Smith of trying to rewrite history.

Democrats (or those who promote and build "a Democratic and progressive agenda) are swinging back at Senator Gordon Smith's recent television ad blitz.

A new ad for U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) features two Oregon Democrats who say they will vote for the incumbent senator. According to the ad, former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse and state Sen. Avel Gordly, both Democrats, are behind Smith and not Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley.

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.

In January, Darlene Hooley will become the twelfth  living former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon.  Oregon’s oldest living former Congressman is Wendell Wyatt, a Republican who will celebrate his 91st birthday on June 15.  Wyatt, an ex-FBI agent and the Republican State Chairman from 1955 to 1957, won election to Congress in a 1964 special election and easily held the seat in subsequent races; Wyatt won 69% in 1972, running twelve percentage points ahead of GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon.