This is the first Merkley ad that hits the mark. It rightly mocks furniture-gate, and quickly moves on to substantive policy issues where Smith has been dead wrong. The ad is still pretty formulaic, with the cliche music shift and all, but it hits the right points.

Well, darn it all, that ad doesn't attack the harm done with conservative voters, it just muddies with water with more negativity.

Why can't an ad just go to point and tell the truth. The under budget $34 million State capital project was fiscally conservative, going for the long haul with good quality furniture - made in the Prison Industries program. The "payment" then was the legislature taking money out of one pocket, and putting it into another pocket in our State e.g. the prison budget.

What this ad leaves standing in the minds of Oregonians, uncontested, is that $34 million was wasted on furniture. It's not true, but voters won't know that unless told.

Furniture is something the average voter relates to. $18 billion for oil, even broken down into tanks of gas or bags of groceries, doesn't have the same impact.

The voters deserve the truth, why are these campaigns holding back on that?

I don't know, Steve, I think by responding directly on the furniture we would let the Republicans set the terms of debate. There would be another Smith ad rebutting Merkley's ad, and we'd spend weeks debating furniture.

It's such a frivolous issue, I like the fact that the party is mostly ignoring it and turning the debate to issue like war, oil, and fiscal stability.

"Well, darn it all, that ad doesn't attack the harm done with conservative voters, it just muddies with water with more negativity. Why can't an ad just go to point and tell the truth. The under budget $34 million State capital project was fiscally conservative, going for the long haul with good quality furniture - made in the Prison Industries program."

Steve, often the best defense is a good offense. Republicans have understood this for a long time and Democrats need to learn it instead of being terrified of "negativity." This ad makes an excellent and perfectly legitimate point about the gross fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush administration and its enablers in the Republican Congress. I think it also makes Merkley look statesmanlike and makes the Smith furniture ads look pretty childish.

With respect to "furniture" and Smith's old republican saw about Merkley being the usual tax and spend democrat one can only laugh at Smith again for dragging out another old broken republican saw that Merkley is soft on crime. Understand that the Oregon State Police Troopers Association has endorsed Merkley. Are they "soft on crime"? Maybe Smith should get more contemporary and call Merkley a "muslim"?

Even Gordo must have gotten some message as they dropped the price of the couch from their ads, which was less than half what my daughter paid for her leather couch. Focus should be on Smith's REAL RECORD, which I guess, as with most republicans, is I guess negative advertising by their reluctance to have their own records made public.

What we're seeing today brings to mind a two part cartoon in Playboy back in the 70's that showed a patient sitting in the dentist's chair with a frightened look on his face as the dentist approached him with a giant syringe and needle a foot long.

The next cartoon showed the patient with a vise grip on Dr. Feel Good's .....uh......family jewels and is twisting much to the doctor's obvious discomfort!

The caption reads: "We're not going to hurt each other, are we doctor?"

I'm saying that we have to do our homework and as soon as they strike out with lies, they have to be exposed for the hypocrites they are with facts about their own history.

I'm not excusing John Edwards but John Mc Cain has a history for doing the same and worse. He not only cheated on his formerly beautiful fashion model wife after she was left crippled and scarred by an automobile accident but he left her for a beautiful blonde, seventeen years younger heiress.

Senator Obama can't say anything nor should, but the rest of us can.

This GOP's scandals include hookers, closeted gays, pedophiles, financial scandals like Bill Frist, Ted Stevens, Duke Cunningham and the rest.

Like the old saying goes, "You have to fight fires with fire" because that's the only thing they understand. That and a little embarrassment and jail time.

I learned long ago that Republicans see civility as a weakness and pounce on it. Civility is fine when one is dealing with a statesman. Unfortunately, it doesn't work in today's political arena when the opposition is almost totally devoid of even a basic sense of decency.

I challenge anyone to name one current Republican in office who is a real statesmen or one single right wing pundit who has any integrity.

I don't say play dirty but I do think it's important to at least be prepared for the dirty politics that have become the norm for the Neo-Con mentality.

Add to that the Limbaughs and O'Reillys who have been so visible with their off the charts, bombastic "go for the throat" tirades, the re writing of history and spouting their opinion rather then discussing the facts.

Still, the Democratic campaigns have to be prepared with ammunition of their own, when these attacks come.