Greg Macpherson

The race between Democrats John Kroger and Rep. Greg Macpherson grabbed media attention last week after a series of Macpherson’s ads hit the airwaves, raising Kroger’s ire.

Kroger just released a new spot of his own – one that inquires if voters are “insulted” by Macpherson’s “wholly negative” and “misleading” campaign.

Attorney General candidate Greg Macpherson

The presidential nominating contest is not the only heated race coming to Oregon on May 20. A poll conducted by the Portland Tribune and FOX News 12, shows the Democratic primary race for state attorney general is "in a dead heat."

State Sen. Greg Macpherson leads former federal prosecutor John Kroger by just two points, 28 percent to 26 percent, according to the poll. With a 4.8 percent margin of error and 46 percent of Democratic voters still undecided, pollster Tim Hibbits told the Tribune that Macpherson's two-point advantage "is no lead at all."

A summary of The Oregonian’s endorsements in the May 20 primary election: the newspaper is backing Barack Obama for President, Steve Novick for U.S. Senate, Kate Brown for Secretary of State, Greg Macpherson for Attorney General, and Sam Adams for Mayor of Portland.

Attorney General candidate Greg MacPherson's new ad:

Only in a campaign between two lawyers—in this case Attorney General candidates John Kroger and Greg Macpherson—will political discourse be marked by words such as code, title and case law. The jargon isn’t being thrown around in a battle over policy, however, but rather in a back and forth over whether Kroger has ever ‘practiced’ law in Oregon.

Macpherson’s latest ad portrays his opponent as a courtroom neophyte, akin to a seventeen year old newly licensed driver, and hinges on the statement that Kroger has “never practiced law in Oregon.” Macpherson's campaign butressed the statement with the fact that Kroger was only certified by the Oregon bar in September of 2007.

State Rep. Greg MacphersonJohn Kroger's Oregon pedigree was the subject of another ad released yesterday by his opponent in the Attorney General's race, State Rep. Greg Macpherson.

The ad equates Kroger to a fictional Fred, who just got his driver's license and now wants to drive a bus or Sue, who just graduated from medical school and now wants to operate.

Of course, Kroger has taken issue with not only the statements in the ad but the timbre of the ad itself; "Macpherson's negative, misleading attack ads are exactly what you would expect from a professional politician who cares more about getting elected than he cares about the significant issues facing our state," said Kroger.

Unless Attorney General candidate John Kroger has his own personal stash from his five years as a federal prosecutor, it looks like organized labor unions are likely gearing up to throw another wad of cash to his campaign.

John Kroger has wrapped up nearly even union endorsement in the race for Attorney General against Rep. Greg Macpherson, and his streak continued today when he announced the support of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 189 and the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Oregon Area District Council (ILWU.)

"We endorse John Kroger because he will be an independent Attorney General," said Chuck Moffit, President of AFSCME Local 189.  "We can count on him to go after polluters and corporate crooks."

Although Macpherson’s list of union supporters is shorter than Kroger’s, Macpherson has a lengthy list of elected officials on his side, including Gov. Ted Kulongoski, former Gov. Barbara Roberts, Attorney General Hardy Myers and retiring Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and a number of state Representatives.

Since no candidate filed for the Attorney General race this season, most GOPers assume they are left with a choice between Democrats Greg Macpherson and John Kroger.  However, one blogosphere is trying to do what Vance Day and other Republican leaders couldn't accomplish by attempting a write-in campaign for former gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton.

State Rep. Greg MacphersonWhen Rep. Greg Macpherson released his first ad earlier this week, he probably did not expect that negative responses would come not only from his opponent John Kroger’s camp, but also from groups he claimed to have helped.

The basic theme—that attorney general candidate Kroger has done nothing for Oregon—is not a new one in this race. Macpherson, whose family roots in the state’s politics run deep, has hammered on Kroger for not having a history in Oregon.