U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) released a new ad Thursday touting his work across the aisle with Democratic lawmakers and distancing himself from the Bush administration.

“I choose to reach across the aisle with John Kerry to protect homeowners against foreclosure, with Barack Obama for better gas mileage,” Smith says in the ad.  “And when President Bush tried to cut Medicaid, the Oregon Health plan, I said 'no.'”

Highlighting the work he did with U.S. senator and presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is an interesting connection, considering that Smtih is a national campaign committee member for Obama’s presumptive opponent, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Oregon House Speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley’s (D-Portland) spokesman Matt Canter believes the connection to Kerry is also dubious.

“Just a couple years ago Smith was lobbing insults at Kerry, saying he looks French and his policies are socialist,” Canter said. “Then in an election year he finally does the right thing. In 2001 Gordon Smith voted with George W. Bush 93 percent of the time.”

The ad comes on the heels of a Zogby poll released earlier on Thursday, which showed Smith trailing Merkley 38 percent to 29 percent, with a margin of error of 3.5 percent. The poll also cited data that said Smith was not doing a good job of sufficiently winning Republican constituencies. According to the poll Smith was winning votes from just 60 percent of Oregon conservatives.

“Gordon Smith’s strategy has really hurt him in every part of the electorate,” Canter said, pointing toward the poll which said that Merkley was beating Smith in every income group.”

But Smith campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride believes that the ad will not further alienate Republican voters because Oregonians want to send someone to Washington who plays well with others.

“Tough times call for results, not partisan rhetoric,” Gilbride said. “Independent leadership is what all Oregonians say they want.”