Rosenbergs, move over. There's a new commie in town.

Jeff Merkley's spokesman might want to blacklist Steve Novick. According to Matt Canter, Novick's base is from the liberal heart of downtown Portland, or as he described it to The Politico, the "inner circle of the Kremlin."

Novick has been infiltrating Merkley's once assured chances at taking on Sen. Gordon Smith come November. Now Novick wants Merkley to recant his reference and liberate the citizens of Portland from the Soviet fortress.

"Apparently it wasn't enough for Jeff Merkley to divide Democrats by trying to manufacture controversy about some previous comments I made on the internet, now Merkley is adopting two classic Republican tactics: red-baiting and trying to divide rural and urban Oregonians," said Novick. "I can't figure out if I'm running against Jeff Merkley or Joe McCarthy."

Jake Weigler, Novick's campaign manager, sees the comment as a last gasp of a dying campaign. "They put an enormous amount of money into running positive ads, and it doesn't seem to have moved his numbers," he said. "The only way Merkley can win the race is to tear down Novick in the final week."

"I certainly wasn't speaking about Portland voters or progressives in this city who are largely supporting our campaign; I was talking about the candidate who made the same joke about himself," Canter said, referring to a Novick business card with a hammer and sickle on it.

"I tried to steal a Novick joke and it fell flat," Canter said about his interview with the Politico.

[img_assist|nid=1582|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=420|height=239]The joke he was stealing-from the efforts of one comes good for all-was actually spurred from a gag gift from Novick's comrade, Chris Warner, now an aide to Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski: a faux business card also adorned by a recycling symbol.

Say Простите меня! Прошу Вас! Я не хотел, Matt.