OR-Sen: Gordon Smith Attacks Third Party Candidate

by: Matt Stoller

Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 15:30


Down between five and seven points in the polls to Jeff Merkley in a state beset by the Obama tsunami, Republican Gordon Smith is resorting to... attacking his third party rival Dave Brownlow.

Here's Smith defending his approach.
Matt Stoller :: OR-Sen: Gordon Smith Attacks Third Party Candidate

Brownlow is now bragging about how this is helping his candidacy.  I don't know why Smith would do this.  Presumably Brownlow is taking significant conservative votes from Smith, so he has to go after Brownlow to get those votes back.  Or perhaps Smith is playing a double reverse mind game, trying to persuade some progressives to vote for Brownlow instead of Merkley.  

It's just kind of weird.  But I saw a lot of this last cycle from 'moderate' Republicans, a strong anger and whacked out behavioral patterns at the gall of some Democrat challenging them.

Remember this?

People like Smith and Lieberman haven't gone nuts.  They were always nuts, but you don't find out how nuts until they are challenged.

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OR-Sen: Gordon Smith Attacks Third Party Candidate | 3 comments
Brownlow is from the ultra-right Constituion Party (4.00 / 1)
and Smith is saying he's too liberal? It's pretty funny. I guess Smith is not a moderate after all.
Consider the possibility (4.00 / 1)
that Smith is trying to conflate the two -- not just trick left-leaning would-be Merkley voters to maybe vote for Brownlow, but for straight up undecideds to think Merkley holds the positions he ascribes to Brownlow.

Not saying it's overt or even the main point of the ad, but people who are only half paying attention (and let's face it, an awful lot of people only pay that much attention to politics, at most, ever) might walk away saying "That guy who's running against Smith? Crazy Democrat wants to close prisons."

Just a thought.

Tim Wolfe

Brownlow stuff makes sense I think (0.00 / 0)
What Smith's campaign knows:

1. He can't afford to lose votes to a third party candidate perceived as conservative...the Obama wave is such that he needs to hold on to all conservatives and some moderates.

2. Voters, even some conservatives, want change. Brownlow is a way of expressing that without voting for Obama.

3. Therefore, attack Brownlow as too liberal to keep conservative voters from straying.

4. If it's helping Brownlow it would likely be because many voters want Bush tried for war crimes...those voters would otherwise be Merkely voters so it helps Smith to some of those votes to Brownlow.

OR-Sen: Gordon Smith Attacks Third Party Candidate | 3 comments
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