Oregon: National Republican Senatorial Committee

[img_assist|nid=2851|title=Senate candidate Jeff Merkley|desc=Campaign Photo|link=none|align=left|width=175|height=175]The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a new ad Friday that attempts to tie Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley’s actions in Salem to the corruption in Washington, D.C.

“Our economy in trouble, Wall Street and Washington gambling with our money and piling up more government debt,” the ad says. “In Salem, with Jeff Merkley as speaker of the house, the story isn’t any better.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a familiar ad Monday accusing Merkley of passing legislation to cut timber jobs and raise taxes.

The ad looks a lot like an NRSC ad released last week, and begins by accusing Merkley of “not being able to see the forest for the trees.” It then focuses on the timber industry, and accuses Merkley of working in the Oregon State House to cut timber jobs in 2003.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a new ad Friday targeting U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton), claiming that he has not worked in Washington D.C to help Oregon families, but instead has worked for higher profits and tax breaks for oil companies which have given money to his campaign.

“With hundreds of thousands of dollars of Big Oil money lining Gordon Smith’s campaign coffers, it’s no wonder he thinks they deserve billions in special tax breaks,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said.