Wyden, Clinton won't campaign against Gordon Smith

In the great tradition of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, we have high-profile Democrats refusing to campaign against Republicans in Oregon.

Sen. Ron Wyden has made it clear that he will "go along to get along" and not campaign against Oregon's junior Republican Senator, Gordon Smith.  According to Josh Kardon, Wyden's chief of staff:

"Just as Sen. Smith has supported the Republican nominee in both of his last two races, Sen. Wyden will support the Democratic nominee for 2008, but he won't campaign against Gordon, and he will continue to work with Sen. Smith on the state's behalf for the next two years," Kardon said

The additional twist here is that Josh Kardon is also the chair of Hillary Clinton's Oregon Steering Committee.

Hillary and Bill Clinton's respect, admiration and fondness for Sen. John McCain have been well-documented.

If Hillary Clinton and John McCain become their party's presidential nominees, the general election race is likely to be a love-fest.

At least according to Bill Clinton.

Campaigning in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Friday, the former president brushed aside suggestions his wife would prove to be a divisive nominee for the Democratic Party, pointing out how she has successfully worked with Republicans in the Senate — including one of the current GOP presidential candidates.

"She and John McCain are very close," Clinton said. "They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they're afraid they'd put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other."

CNN

In a Cabinet-style setting, surrounded by retired military leaders, Sen. Hillary Clinton said the public should ask whether Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama has met the criteria needed to become the nation’s commander in chief.

“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.

“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.

Calling McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee a good friend and a “distinguished man with a great history of service to our country,” Clinton said, “Both of us will be on that stage having crossed that threshold..."

link

Adding a bit of fuel to the political fire, Bill Clinton made a bizarre comment on Friday, leaving the impression that he believed Barack Obama's patriotism would be a general election issue.

MSNBC is reporting that on the campaign trail today in Charlotte, North Carolina, the former president said a general election matchup between his wife, Sen. Clinton, and Sen. John McCain would be between "two people who love this country" without "all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

It's difficult to determine exactly what Clinton meant by this. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said the former president was not implying that Obama didn't love America.

HuffPo

Hillary Clinton Praises Gordon Smith
in the news 2007

In an interview with Newsweek, Hillary Clinton described Senator Gordon Smith as one of several Republican colleagues whose opinion she seeks out:

 Everyone says how they're going to do a better job than Bush of reaching out to the opposition and the Congress. Who are some of the Republicans you can pick up the phone and talk to?
It would depend on the issue. If I were concerned about defense or foreign policy, I would talk to Republicans [such as] John Warner and John McCain and Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins. I don't always agree with their perspective, but I find it very important to hear and try to factor in my thinking. On health and human-services kinds of issues, Mike Enzi's been a partner. Again, we don't always agree, but I believe he's trying to do what he thinks is right. If it's on environmental issues, it could be as unusual [a] pairing as Jim Inhofe [or] George Voinovich, whom I've worked with trying to cut diesel emissions. Obviously, I have a great deal of respect for Dick Lugar and Gordon Smith. I am more than willing [to work with them].

Read the rest.

Why would Clinton entangle herself in what will be one of the closest Senate races in the country? Isn't this just giving ammunition to Smith's re-election campaign when a leading democratic presidential candidate declares her respect for him?

BlueOregon 9/10/07

And Gordon Smith has been a key supporter of McCain:

After recanting his support for the Iraq war, Smith has stood by the hawkish McCain. Even with the Iraq war “going well,” it’s far from clear whether a McCain nomination in 2008 would bode well for Smith’s dicey re-election bid that same year.

Willamette Week

So Wyden won't campaign against Smith, even though Smith was "the only politician who maxed out in his federal contribution to Senator Wyden's 2004 opponent," per Kardon.

And given Wyden's link to the Clinton campaign through Kardon, and the Clintons' public support for John McCain, it is pretty clear that Democrats in Oregon are going to get no help from Wyden or Clinton in unseating a very vulnerable and very odious Republican toady from the Senate.  

StopGoronSmith.com does an excellent job of tracking Smith's right-wing voting record, pandering and two-faced double-talk, if you need a handy reference for all the reasons that Smith must go.

Hillary has her surrogates pounding the Oregon blogs, whining about a debate in Oregon before the May 20, 2008 primary, and posturing about her faux interest in Pacific Northwest issues.

A couple points on that:

1.  Ballots go out starting May 2.  Unless Hillary wants to encourage voters not to turn in ballots until after the debate, it is entirely possible that people will be voting and turning in ballots well before any debate could be arranged or scheduled.  It makes no sense to have a debate after ballots are out and being turned back in daily.

2.  If Hillary cared so much about Pacific Northwest issues, she would have called for a debate before Idaho and Washington voted.  She didn't.

3.  Another member of Hillary's steering committee in Oregon, Paddy McGuire, stated in comments at BlueOregon that Hillary's path to the nomination involves the supers taking into consideration the "big important" states that Hillary has won and then making their own decision.  And Oregon is not one of the "big important" states by his measure.  So it is illogical for Hillary to press for a debate, as her surrogate has already said that all pledged delegates, in particular Oregon's, don't matter.

If Hillary really does care as much about our issues as she claims, she will get off her behind and start coming out swinging against Gordon Smith AND John McCain, instead of sticking the long knives into the back of a fellow Democrat for her own personal benefit and unchecked ego.  Otherwise - she's a traitor and a liar for all to see.