Gordon Smith

U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-Pendleton) campaign reacted enthusiastically to Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) adding Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Ak.) to the presidential ticket.

We heard some good speeches from both national and local leaders in Denver, John McCain finally announced his veep choice and Oregon lobbyists are still restricted when it comes to spending on legislators.

DENVER -- Former U.S. Senate candidate Steve Novick had some advice for the man who beat him in the primary, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland), as Merkley heads home for the general election campaign.

"I've told Jeff that everyone should take advantage of their natural strength," Novick said. "And Jeff is a hard-working, honest, geek."

Novick said that geekiness was actually a strength for Merkley, and after eight years of the Bush administration he estimated that Oregon's voters were looking for someone with a little more policy background and a little less polished.

"With the start of school, it's a great time to do a commercial showing Gordon Smith finally coming around on global warming, or the Iraq war," Novick said. "Then you show Jeff on the screen looking really geeky, and say something like, ‘But Jeff Merkley is a guy that's done his homework.'"

U.S. Senator Gordon Smith's (R-Pendleton) campaign responded to Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley's (D-Portland) convention speech Wednesday saying that Merkley only managed to affirm to Oregonians that he would be very partisan if he was elected to senate.

"Jeff Merkley aired his divisive partisanship loud and clear today," Smith campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said.

According to Gilbride, Smith has spent the week campaigning in Oregon, before he has to return to Washington D.C. for Senate work in September.

DENVER -- U.S Senate candidate Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) took center stage at the Democratic National Convention for a short time Wednesday ready to convince party members nation-wide that he was a candidate prepared to help out the Democratic effort in Washington.

"Oregon needs a senator who will fight for affordable health care, living wage jobs, an end to the war and a smart energy policy - not a senator who will give us more of Bush-McCain's failed policies," Merkley told the crowd.

Merkley only had 90 seconds in the limelight, and it may not have been enough to get into the intricacies of his campaign that have ranged from a battle with incumbent U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) over healthcare and the Iraq war to controversies over furniture purchases for the legislature. But it was enough time for him to try to convince his party that electing him would take the country a step in the Democratic direction.

"If my opponent Gordon Smith returns to Washington, it's just more of the same, and we can't afford that," Merkley said. "Not in Oregon, not in America."

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) was trying to change who he is by running ads talking about all the work he had accomplished in tandem with Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and John Kerry.

"Gordon Smith is one of the least popular Republican incumbents," Schumer said. "And he is trying to change who he. He runs more commercials with Barack Obama and John Kerry than he does with George W. Bush and John McCain."

U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley said Wednesday he will talk about the economy in his speech Wednesday evening at the Democratic National Convention.

"When I've been on the road hitting 87 of my 100 town tour, everyone is really anxious because it seems like the price of everything is going up, and everything is going up except their paychecks," Merkley said.

The Speaker of the House, who is the only Oregonian slated to speak at the convention, stressed that he was given a limited amount of time to introduce himself from the podium to the Democrats gathered in the Pepsi Center, but he hoped to portray his race for Oregon's Senate seat as critical to the country's future.

"I get a whole 90 seconds tonight," Merkley said. "But, I want to clarify tonight that Oregon is a critical state, and if we are going to move this country forward we need to get rid of Gordon Smith."

DENVER -- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) shrugged off her Senate colleague Gordon Smith's television ads that have touted his record of working with Democrats, saying that Democrats simply needed to elect more Democrats.

"People are going to do that, but I just think in Oregon there is a big difference between Gordon Smith and Jeff Merkley," Klobuchar said as she left the Oregon delegation breakfast.

Klobuchar addressed the delegation earlier Wednesday, urging them to put their efforts behind Merkley, the Oregon House Speaker, so that the Democrats in the Senate can pass legislation without the threat of filibuster.

When incumbent U.S. Senator Gordon Smith dropped the ball on Oregon rural county timber payments earlier this year, he opened a door to rural voter support normally closed to his Democratic challengers.

Oregon House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) will address the Democratic National Convention this evening between 2 and 4 p.m (PST).

Most recent polls show Merkley trailing incumbent U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton).