When Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith ran those TV spots earlier this year invoking the names of Democratic senators he’d worked with, he may not have quite grasped what he’d unleashed. He was clearly trying to attach to the prevailing tide; but ever since, the prevailing tide has been shaking him off. (Democrat Jeff Merkley now seems to have a narrow edge in what’s still a breathtakingly close race.)
Even Ron Wyden, who took Smith to task for his appearance in a Smith TV spot, has shot back from the usage.
Now, maybe most damaging, presidential candidate Barack Obama. This is the first time Obama has appeared personally in a TV spot for a Democratic Senate candidate, and while the fact that the Smith-Merkley race is very close was doubtless a factor, you have to suspect that Smith’s earlier invocation of Obama’s name had a lot to do with it too.
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