D.C. Dems Buy TV Time In Oregon Senate Race

Eugene Register-Guard reporter David Steves says the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has bought $44,000 worth of air time at one Portland TV station and is reportedly in for more than $100,000, including buys at other stations.

From Steves' blog:

What we don’t know: what kind of ads they’ll use to fill that air time: counter-attacks against the Republican they’re trying to unseat—Sen. Gordon Smith—make the most sense. Since Sunday, the DSCC’s hand-picked candidate, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, has been paying for his own ads criticizing Smith. Merkley’s ads ran in response to those put on the air Friday by Smith, who went on the attack against both Merkley and his fellow Democratic Senate candidate, Steve Novick.

It is possible the DSCC wants to get directly involved with trying to promote Merkley or go after Novick. But given all its efforts to deny involvement in a contested primary—even while giving $93,000 to Merkley last fall and certainly helping him line up endorsements and access fund-raising Rolodexes—they’re not likely to come in with an independent expenditure that makes such an effort so overt.

DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment on the ad buy at all.

The Oregonian's Harry Esteve contacted the Merkley and Novick campaigns for reactions:

"All I know is that a purchase has been made," said Matt Canter, spokesman for Merkley's campaign. He said he learned about it from news reporters and TV stations that sell the advertising time. "I don't have any information on these advertisements."

Novick's campaign manager Jake Weigler said he couldn't comment about the ad without knowing its content.

If the DSCC's ads are going to be attacking Smith and his pseudo maverick record, that's a great thing and a sure sign that the group is taking seriously Oregon's effort to oust the Republican incumbent.