Smith hits the airwaves toting 'common ground for the common good'

U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith: Photo by Getty ImagesSoft guitar music, a wood paneled room lined with books and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, toting "common ground for the common good." After months of sitting back and letting Democrats Steve Novick and Jeff Merkley duke it out, incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith finally decided to dip into the massive warchest he has accumulated and run his first television ad.

"I've shown a better way - thinking independently working with Democrats and Republicans. I approve this ad because no matter who our next president is – him or her, I will find common ground for the change we need," he says cheerfully.

Of course, Smith's claim that he is an "independent thinker" is the crux of the Democrats' opposition to the Senator. Over the past months, the Democratic Party of Oregon has hammered the message that Smith's votes consistently cancel out those of Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon's Democratic Senator.

"TV ads can't hide his record. Gordon Smith votes with President Bush 90 percent of the time and opposes Ron Wyden on ending the Iraq War, solving climate change and lowering prescription drug costs for seniors," said DPO Executive Director Trent Lutz.

The Smith campaign has cited a number of legislative accomplishments which "earned [the Senator] a reputation of independence," including a 2007 bipartisan effort to expand health insurance and supporting Gov. Ted Kulongoski's Healthy Kids Plan in the same year as well as advancing anti Hate Crimes legislation.

And in the current legislative session, he has indeed been 'mavericking' it up; as opposed to the five previous sessions where the consistency of his voting record with the GOP hovered between 85 to 94 percent, in the recent 110th session, Smith has only voted with his party 73% of the time.

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