DSCC up with independent ad

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is targeting Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in its latest ad, assailing him for running “misleading attack ads” against his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Jeff Merkley.

The ad shows a montage of Smith ads from television and print sources as a voiceover says, “It didn’t take long for Gordon Smith to launch misleading negative ads.”

{mosads}The DSCC ties Smith to President Bush, depicting him alongside Bush and saying that Smith voted with the president “to give tax breaks to the wealthy, tax breaks to Big Oil and tax breaks to corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”

The ad is one in a series of DSCC-supported ads that have helped Merkley, including during his primary against activist Steve Novick and recent non-campaign issue ads featuring Merkley that have raised questions about their legality.

Smith spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said the DSCC is propping Merkley up.

“The national Democrats continue to control Jeff Merkley’s puppet strings and bankroll his campaign,” Gilbride said. “From paying his trash bills to running illegal and now misleading attack ads on his behalf, Jeff Merkley is over a million dollars beholden to out-of-state Democrats."