Video: What Paul Wellstone can (and does) tell us about the 2008 Senate race in Oregon
Kari Chisholm
By this point in the campaign, we're all sick of the TV ads - especially the attack ads.
And no wonder, this race long ago became the most expensive race in the history of Oregon.
But if you think it's ugly now, just you wait. It's about to get extremely ugly.
The Americans for Job Security - a shadowy front group for the insurance industry and big oil staffed by Bush/Cheney operatives - is rolling out their first TV ads today, attacking Jeff Merkley.
Since 2002, they've attacked progressive Democrats across the country - and they've always refused to reveal who their donors are (claiming that their ads are not electioneering, even though they always show up right before election day.)
In 2002, AJS deployed a million dollars in attack ads in Minnesota in just two weeks. On October 24, Senator Paul Wellstone hit back hard. This speech was one of the last he ever gave. He died the very next day.
Help Jeff Merkley fight back. Join the thousands of small donors helping Jeff Merkley put his positive message on the air and organize the largest grassroots campaign in Oregon history.
A related item: In the Medford debate, Jeff Merkley charged that Karl Rove is a key supporter of Gordon Smith's re-election. Smith was befuddled, dismissing the claim.
Turns out, Merkley's right. Karl Rove is behind the attack ads from Freedom's Watch. From the AP:
Karl Rove, a former top Bush aide, is a key adviser to Freedom's Watch, and Merkley complained at a debate this week that Rove is behind a $2 million "smear campaign" against him.Smith shot back that Rove has nothing to do with his campaign.
In a letter to Smith's campaign, Merkley's campaign manager, Jon Isaacs, said Rove is "intimately involved" in the Senate race. He cited an ad by Freedom's Watch attacking Merkley for supporting higher taxes - a charge Merkley denies.
Isaacs urged Smith to demand that Rove and Freedom's Watch halt all campaign attacks on Smith's behalf.
Between Karl Rove orchestrating multi-million dollar smear campaigns - and a shadowy right-wing corporate front group that refuses to follow election law as it launches attack ads while ballots are in hand, well, it sure is hard to make any sense of Gordon Smith's claims to be independent of the Republican Party and the special interests that fund it.
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Oct 21, '08
This is exactly why I don't put much stock in political commercials unless it's the candidate him or her self who is talking on camera, and even then I take everything with a grain of salt.
From what I've seen over the last couple of decades, these commercials say much more about the organization putting them out that they ever do about the candidate.
That goes for both the democtats and the republicans.....
8:08 a.m.
Oct 21, '08
[Full disclosure: My firm built Jeff Merkley's website but I speak only for myself.]
Oct 21, '08
Joanne, I agree with you.
2 best ads for US Senate I still remember (mostly candidate and camera):
Lonsdale out in the woods in 1990, "Like many of you I voted for Mark Hatfield in the past. Let me tell you why I am running against him now...."
Jan. 1996 Ron Wyden 100% positive ad.
Oct 21, '08
This is one of the reasons I like vote-by-mail, with its longer voting timeline. By the time AJS gets geared up and their ads have run enough to stick in voters' consciousness, half of the citizenry will have already voted. This system does tend to mitigate the impact of the "October surprise" as the dump truck full of mud misses many of its intended targets.
10:47 a.m.
Oct 21, '08
"Help Jeff Merkley fight back. Join the thousands of small donors helping Jeff Merkley put his positive message on the air and organize the largest grassroots campaign in Oregon history."
Using ActBlue as the barometer and repository for this repeated claim of the "largest grassroots campaign," shouldn't you wait at least until Merkley gets within $50,000 of the total Novick raised...6 months ago?
11:58 a.m.
Oct 21, '08
No, donations made via ActBlue are not the barometer of "largest grassroots campaign".
For starters, fundraising isn't the exclusive measure of a grassroots campaign. Thousands of Oregonians have been knocking on doors, etc.
And even with respect to fundraising, Merkley's had over 21,000 donors - and 90% of them under $100.
11:59 a.m.
Oct 21, '08
And, btw... even using YOUR barometer. Novick - 3392 actblue donors. Merkley - 6029 actblue donors.
<h2>WTF?</h2>