Gordon Smith stretches his "Democratic credentials" even further

We all know about Gordon Smith and how he tries to make himself look like a Democrat. He's careful to never list himself as a Republican on his web site. He likes to tout in ads how Democrats support him, how he supports progressive issues like ending the war in Iraq and opposing drilling in the Arctic. He tries to make it appear that he's an independent voter who doesn't follow his party lines. But his new ad goes even further.

In his newest ad, he is aligning with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

From the Associated Press:

Republicans go after Barack Obama in their political advertising, but GOP Senator Gordon Smith aligns himself with the Democratic presidential candidate in a new ad, citing work they both did to improve fuel efficiency standards.

...

The ad, responding to attempts to tie Smith to high gas prices, credits Obama with saying that "Gordon Smith led the fight for better gas mileage and a cleaner environment."

...

Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the two worked together on the 2006 fuel efficiency bill, but Obama never called Smith a leader.

Obama's campaign said Obama appreciates that his record of bipartisan achievement is respected by both parties.

But Obama is backing Democrat Jeff Merkley in the Oregon Senate race. 

The entire story can be found here. Kari Chisholm has more on this story at Blue Oregon.And Jeff Mapes has a piece over at Oregon Live on the ad as well.

From Mapes:

Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, stepping up his efforts to run from his Republican roots in his advertising, on Tuesday released a new TV commercial that promotes his ties to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Smith's effort to enlist Obama's name in his advertising was met with protests from Democrats, but the McCain campaign said it wasn't concerned that it would hurt their candidate in Oregon.

Absolutely disgusting. 

Gordon Smith has been a huge supporter of John McCain (Smith endorsed McCain and is the chairman of his campaign in Oregon); however, he knows that Oregon is going to vote heavily for Obama this fall. Plus he figures he is guaranteed most of the Republican vote - it's the Democrats and non-affiliated voters he is trying to court.

Never mind the fact that he's voted more than 90% of the time with Bush and the Republican Party. Never mind that while he "opposes the war," he's voted every time for the war when the vote mattered. Never mind that while he "opposes drilling in the Arctic," he voted for it. He's a Republican through and through and needs to be replaced.

Let's send Gordon Smith a message - he's not a Democrat, he's not an Independent voice, and he doesn't represent Oregon's interests. Let's send him packing to Pendleton and send Jeff Merkley to represent us in D.C.