I know I'm not a famous blogger here at Daily Kos and my comments tend to garner only a smattering of recommends.  This diary is probably going to come across as whiney and I know that many readers DO give money to progressive candidates so I am not intentionally criticizing those people nor do I mean to criticize those who don't have money to spare but who dedicate themselves to electing Democrats thru activism.

I have been reading and posting here since about 2005.  I am not a wealthy person & the past year has been difficult for me.  but when the Front pagers & other posters here at Kos put out a call for contributions to their candidates, I try to help out.  Sometimes the amounts are small, but I do what I can because we need more progressives in Congress.

Yesterday, I decided to put out my own request for contributions for a progressive US Senate candidate, Jeff Merkley (OR-Sen), in what is considered one of the top Senate races in the country.  I offered & am offering to match contributions totalling up to $1,000 to people who contribute thru my Actblue page:  http://www.actblue.com/... .  Guess how many people stepped up to the plate?

Are you interested in putting more *progressives* in the US Senate in the upcoming election?  Would you like to double your impact thru a matching contribution?  If so, read on!

For the past 12 years, Oregonians have been cursed with a do-nothing Republican Senator who currently polls at under 50% approval.  His name is Gordon Smith and his list of legislative accomplishments in the US Senate is as meager as his committment to George bush is great.

Following the Democratic landslide of '06, Smith furiously tried to create the appearance of distance between himself and the Bush administration without actually distancing himself in a meaningful way.  He's a pretend 'independent' Republican Senator who 'independently' votes with George Bush approx. 90% of the time.  He's sort of like a dumber, more inactive and almost-as-insulting-to-your-intelligence version of Norm Coleman.

In the really green part of Oregon, Gordon Smith has a long tradition of presenting himself as the moderate, anti-drilling, good guy. In fact, one of his infamous ads in which he tries to pretend he's been endorsed by Obama, trumpets

"Who says Gordon Smith helped lead the fight for better gas mileage and a cleaner environment? Barack Obama!"

Clean environment? Tell that to the Oregon Department of Environmental Equality, not to mention the folks in Weston, OR.

For the second time in about a year, wastewater from the frozen-foods plant owned and operated in Eastern Oregon by the family of U.S. Sen Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) overflowed into a nearby creek in violation of state environmental regulations....

Smith Frozen Foods has a long history of wastewater violations.... According to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, an employee of Smith Frozen Foods contacted the state agency on July 29 (while the plant was processing corn) to report an overflow from the company's wastewater lagoon that "resulted in a milky discharge to Pine Creek."

...[T]he incident is considered a serious "Class 1" violation, meaning it "can harm aquatic life, contaminate drinking waters, and impair recreational, commercial and agricultural uses of water."...

On July 30, 2007, at the height of last year's corn season, Smith Frozen Foods had a similar violation. That violation resulted in a $3,000 fine — a small sum compared with the $25,000 DEQ fine in 1992 for another infraction. Between those two events, Smith Frozen Foods has been cited or fined by the DEQ more than a handful times.

After one of those fines in the early 1990s, Smith received $766,000 in state and federal grants to bring his plant into compliance with environmental regs. And then he had the gall to run his first, losing campaign against Wyden on "the principles of less government and unfettered free enterprise."

The most recent spill (there have been six or seven in the past 15 years) is hardly the same scope as the massive fish kill of 2002 that Smith helped engineer with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, an environmental and economic disaster that killed over 60,000 fish, including naturally raised Chinook and endangered Coho salmon.

But it does put the lie to Smith's claim that he's a friend to the environment. And it's one of the reasons Oregon's environmental and conservation communities are lining up behind Jeff Merkley.

The last time McCain attempted to upstage an obviously Obama-dominated news cycle, we were treated to the "cottage cheese in lime jello" speech.

Now McCain looks to weasel into another Obama news cycle by breaking with tradition and advertising during the Democratic Convention (h/t slinkerwink).

This is the desperate act of a sinking campaign.

Republicans certainly see the writing on the wall.  Sitting congressional Republicans are finding new scheduling "conflicts" with the Republican Convention and are choosing not to attend.  NRCC Chairman Tom Cole is telling Republican congressional candidates it would be a "waste of time" to attend the convention.

The stench from this campaign's rotting corpse is driving them away.  Notably we've seen...

Yesterday Kagro X posted a great diary about this Vote Vets ad asking why we are not running it this cycle. There are 17 Republican Senators running for re-election that voted against this body armor that the troops needed.

Regardless if Vote Vets or anyone else renews this ad, we must use it to our advantage right now. The redder the state the better the reception is my opinion.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Since Republican Gordon Smith doesn't want to address the real concerns of Oregonians, he's serving them another plate full of mud. In Smith's latest attack ad he calls House Speaker Jeff Merkley a hypocrite. More below the fold....

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Remember this 2006 ad from VoteVets?

This ad ran against George Allen, Rick Santorum and Conrad Burns. All were defeated for reelection.

The same vote against giving our troops the body armor they needed that the ad criticizes was also cast by 17 Republican Senators seeking reelection this year:

Lamar Alexander (TN)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Norm Coleman (MN)
Susan Collins (ME)
John Cornyn (TX)
Elizabeth Dole (NC)
Mike Enzi (WY)
Lindsey Graham (SC)
Jim Inhofe (OK)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Pat Roberts (KS)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Gordon Smith (OR)
Ted Stevens (AK)
John Sununu (NH)

And not only that, but these Senators had all been elected or reelected just months before. That is, the Senate class of 2002, elected in November of that year, cast these votes in April of 2003, at the very beginning of their terms, and nearly six years away from having to face the voters for it.

They thought you'd forget. They needed you to forget.

But one thing they weren't counting on was the troops still being deployed and still fighting six years later.

But they are. And though some of these clowns have since tried to make amends, the fact remains that at the critical time, they put party politics over the lives of our troops, and voted against giving them the armor they needed.

They should all go down for it, and American voters should make a special point of sinking them for their cowardly votes that they hoped we'd forget.

These ads are just the way to do it, too. But they're not on the air.

They've been produced, as you can see. All they need are new tags to identify the 17 Republican Senators up for reelection this year who voted against giving our troops adequate body armor, and they're ready to go. They've been proven in the field, and you can see the impact they'd have right here before your very eyes.

But they're not on the air. And as far as I can tell, there are no plans to put them there.

Seventeen Republican Senators, some of them very, very vulnerable this year. What could we do with those seats in our hands?

Why aren't these ads on the air?

Big time Democrats, donors, and other convention goers: think on this, please. Use the time we spend together in Denver to remedy this.

Why aren't these ads on the air, and what can we do to change that?

Benny's Nachos, F.O.O.! Tonight's "Intro" is a shameless diary plug - no, not for THIS one, you silly gooses, because you're already here! :D During the next 2 Sunday evenings (Aug. 17 & 24), I will make a temporary venture into new diary territory (at least for me). Some here may know that fellow Kossack PastorDan does a weekly Sunday evening devotional (for lack of a better word) perhaps about something in the news, people's thoughts about the subject, and/or any other joys or concerns in people's lives. He is taking the next 2 Sundays off, so some Countdown diarist that y'all have gotten to know fairly well volunteered to step in. These diaries will give me a brand new way to put to practice some of what I've learned as a dharma teacher in my Buddhist tradition.I think you'll learn some things about me that may (or may not) take you by surprise. I'm a little nervous about doing this, so the presence of friendly "faces" would be appreciated at DailyKos the next 2 Sundays. The diaries will be posted soon after 8:00 east coast time. Thanks!

Shameless plug/begging is over; let's count down!

Republican Gordon Smith is now no longer a co-chair of the McCain Campaign in Oregon. Since 2006, Gordon Smith was listed as the honorary co-chair of the McCain Campaign and has been one of McCain's earliest supporters. Apparently Gordon Smith wants nothing to do with the McCain Campaign...oh but wait..Smith does support McCain 100% of the time.

More below the fold....

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Republican Gordon Smith's campaign has a serious problem addressing the issues Oregonians and Americans care about. The problem? He doesn't talk about them, instead he focuses on negative and misleading attacks. Gordon Smith's Campaign has spent nearly two million dollars attacking Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley. This past week Smith continued his baseless attacks on Jeff and the Oregon Legislature for their recent renovation of the Oregon Capitol Building. Smith is also airing another negative ad pushing the tired ol' "he's a big bad tax and spend liberal" meme. It's a shame that Gordon Smith doesn't feel the need to address the real problems America is facing and would rather spend his time attacking Jeff Merkley.

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Most Oregonian Kossacks have seen this commercial already and dismissed it as a benign, unsubstantiated charge of lavish spending by Jeff Merkley's legislature. What you might not have picked up on is a very real anti-gay dogwhistle that shows Gordon Smith is pulling out all the stops to get elected against the interests of his constituents.

As of right now, Republican Gordon Smith, Elizabeth Dole, Ted Stevens, Bob Schaffer and Susan Collins are all skipping the GOP convention. Has this ever happened? We've had recent defectors like Zell "duel challenger" Miller, but have we ever had numerous incumbents skip out on honoring their party in such a public fashion?

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Gordon Smith is now airing an ad attacking Jeff Merkley and the Oregon state legislature for the cost of renovating the capitol building here in Salem, Oregon. That's right folks, Gordon Smith, the man who voted for the Iraq War and Cheney's energy boondoggle of 2003 is attacking Jeff Merkley, claiming he's fiscally irresponsible.

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley

Since Gordon Smith is running as a Republican in a Democratic state, he needs to make his election year veer to the center.  This year is no different. it is especially true since Oregon will likely support Sen. Obama for president and George W is quite unpopular here.

The surface theme is his ability to work across the aisle and to sometimes oppose his own president.

I found the advertisement interesting in a lot of ways. First Smith is the head of McCain's election committee here in Oregon.

Last week we had Karl Rove as our host

McCain has been sentenced to hosting Two for Tuesdays because of his behavior this past week.

Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley has been an amazing advocate for working families in Oregon. Merkley helped push through the card check, regulated payday lenders and harmful car title loans and passed a bill which allowed workers to use their paid sick days as part of family leave. It's no wonder the shadowy anti-labor group called Employee Freedom Action Committee is airing a new ad against Jeff Merkley here in Oregon. That's not all, the anti-labor group has a man dressed as the Grim Reaper dawning a scream mask following Jeff around at his events in Oregon. More below the fold....

Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Merkley

In what has become such a desperate habit that even the AP has picked up on the trend, endangered Republican Gordon Smith once again tries to cozy up to Democrats, telling Oregon voters he's much more like Barack Obama and John Kerry than that nasty Bush fellow.

Smith is obviously in the race of his career, with Dem Jeff Merkley running strong. The problem with Smith's ridiculous tactic of trying to play the Dem in this race is that his would-be endorsers will have none of it. Here's John Kerry responding:

"Gordon Smith is my friend, but the problem is that when it's come time to vote in the Senate he's been a much better friend of George Bush," Kerry said in a statement.

"Voting with George Bush 90 percent of the time just isn't good for the people and issues I've fought for over a lifetime," Kerry added. "It's not personal, it's about what's best for our country. The inescapable fact is that electing Jeff Merkley is the only way we can win a Senate majority that gets things done for people again."

Smith doesn't really talk about his whole record, especially his conspiracy with Dick Cheney to violate the Endangered Species Act to make some farmers happy, a collaboration that resulted in largest fish kill in the modern history of the west.

He's Bush's and Cheney's guy through and through. As Barack Obama made clear all the way back in May:

"Gordon Smith's problem is that he rarely breaks away from George Bush and the Republican agenda that I think has done this country great damage."

Smith knows he has to distance himself as far from his own voting record and from the Republican brand as possible to eke this thing out. But his efforts to glom onto the in-crowd in this election are looking more and more pathetic. And while he's working so hard to woo Oregon's Independents and moderate Dems, he might just be giving his Republican base just one more reason to stay home November 4.

On the Web:
Merkley for Senate

THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT: a weekly DailyKos Health Care Series

Transformation of our ailing health care system is a necessity apparent to every sector of American society but insurance companies and the current administration.  Some Senate staffers have privately suggested to me that by doing nothing, the Senate is making systemic collapse (and implementation of Single Payer) inevitable. Although Americans openly despise private insurers, we remain unable to pass HR 676, Conyers' effort to establish a national public health service.

Even if we elect a new President, if we cannot infuse the Senate with a fresh crop of progressive faces, we will again fail to replace a health care system that monetarily rewards the denial of care. Representative Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, is one candidate who will champion health care transformation. I had the opportunity to interview him for ePluribus Media and Daily Kos at Netroots Nation.  I will not pretend to be objective for the sake of this diary. The netroots should assist progressive candidates to win Senate seats.

More below the jump.