[img_assist|nid=2897|title=U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=175|height=204]Smith campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said that U.S Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) made a mistake Friday when he said he visited every Oregon county every year he was in office.

“Sen. Smith was incorrect about his statement of being in every county every year,” Gilbride said in an email.

During a Friday press conference in Roseburg, Smith responded to a challenge U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley made, saying that whoever won the Senate seat should make a promise to hold a public forum in every Oregon county every year. Smith said he already did that. This caused the Democratic Party of Oregon to request that Smith release his public travel schedule from 2002 to 2008 to prove that he visited every county.

Gilbride was quick to point out that while the incumbent senator did not visit every county, every year, he had been a strong voice for rural Oregon.

“More important than being a visitor to rural Oregon every year, Smith has been its voice and its vote every year - and proved it once again last week in supporting an extension of county payments to rural communities - something Jeff Merkley opposed,” Gilbride said. “No matter how often Jeff Merkley visits rural Oregon, he has already proven he will never be its voice or vote.”

Calls to Merkley's campaign were not immediately returned.

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