Democrats on hook in Oregon

ASSOCIATED PRESS

As head of the deep-pocketed Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer handpicked his party’s nominee to take on Oregon Sen. Gordon H. Smith, the last Senate Republican standing on the West Coast.

But voters may have another idea. Days before votes are counted in the Oregon primary, Mr. Schumer’s choice — Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley — is in a battle with Portland lawyer and activist Steve Novick that polls say is too close to call.

The DSCC is working overtime to make sure Mr. Merkley ekes out a win. Mr. Schumer, who recruited Mr. Merkley after two Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation declined to run, has sent fundraising appeals on Mr. Merkley’s behalf, and the DSCC has spent nearly $300,000 on TV ads boosting Mr. Merkley.

All that effort has left Mr. Novick puzzled.

“Why they think Merkley can beat Gordon Smith if they have to prop him up to beat me is beyond me,” Mr. Novick said.

Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the DSCC, said the committee’s efforts can be overinterpreted. While the DSCC has spent money defending Mr. Merkley, it has not attacked Mr. Novick, he said.

“The ads we are running respond to Gordon Smith’s attacks” on Mr. Merkley, he said. “We came into this race after Smith came in.”

Mr. Miller and other Democrats in Washington acknowledge that the Senate race is closer than expected, but they say that whoever wins their nomination, “We feel good about our chances in Oregon” in the general election.

Democrats say the Senate race is notable for the attack ads by Mr. Smith, who has spent nearly $500,000 on ads blasting Mr. Merkley on a variety on fronts, including the fact that he raised money for his congressional campaign while the state legislature was in session.

“He’s trying to pick his opponent,” Mr. Miller said of the Republican senator. “It’s pretty clear he doesn’t want to run against Jeff Merkley in the fall.”

The Smith team says his ads merely responded to earlier attacks on the Republican senator.

Even if Mr. Merkley ekes out a win, it is Mr. Novick who has generated buzz in Oregon and beyond with clever TV ads, including one that shows him opening a beer bottle with his left hand — which is a metal hook. The 4-foot-9 Mr. Novick was born with multiple physical disabilities, but has parlayed a sharp wit into a polished strategy that stresses his unique appeal.

“We think people are looking for something a little different. I’m little, and I’m different,” he says.

Mr. Merkley stresses his liberal credentials and accomplishments in the state House, where he led Democrats to reclaim the majority in 2006. He reminds voters that Mr. Novick, for all his outsider appeal, is a veteran political consultant.

“While Steve has been advising campaigns and taking potshots at everybody available, I’ve been in the trenches fighting battles and winning time and time again,” he said.

Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts said Mr. Novick appears to have a slight advantage, but “this race is very much up in the air.” A recent poll by Mr. Hibbitts showed a whopping 43 percent of voters were undecided, though he said this was unsurprising since neither man is well-known. Both started the race with less than 10 percent name recognition in the state.