Merkley campaign prepares negative barrage against Novick

After months of running a lackluster campaign and failing to gain traction, erstwhile Democratic front-runner, Jeff Merkley, is preparing a negative campaign to take down primary rival, Steve Novick.

Novick, whose low budget campaign has earned points for original concepts, including a highly successful commercial that was released virally on the web, and even the release of his own brand of beer, appears to have moved ahead of Merkley for the right to challenge Gordon Smith and John Frohnmayer in the general election race for US Senate.

Predictably, the Merkley campaign is now preparing to go negative. In the last few days, he has begun polling on the following lines of attack against Novick, Julia Silverman of the AP reported today.

"Novick is a pro-tax advocate, repeatedly supporting higher taxes for the middle classes, running on a proposal to raise Social Security taxes and falling for false Republican claims that if we don't do this, Social Security will go bankrupt."

  • "Novick is simply not a serious candidate who can win election. He carried joke business cards that have a Communist hammer and sickle symbol on them. He voted for Ralph Nader. His campaign ads feature jokes. That is not the person who can beat Gordon Smith."
  • "Novick is a paid political consultant and lobbyist. He has made a political career out of developing negative attacks, poll-driven campaigns and advising candidates what to say to get elected."

    Voters were also asked what in Novick's "background" concerned them most: "that he is a pro-tax advocate, political consultant, or that he is a divider."

    The move is likely to backfire on Merkley, as it will contrast him not only to Novick, but to Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, who has resisted several similar temptations to take a negative line against opponent, Hillary Clinton.