WASHINGTON -- Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith says his Democratic opponent, Jeff Merkley, is using the current financial crisis for partisan gain.

Smith said late Friday that Merkley tells a "lie" about Smith's record in a new TV ad on the crisis.

The ad accuses Smith of supporting a "trillion-dollar blank check for Wall Street." Smith called that a low blow that shows Merkley is unfit to serve in the Senate.

By running the ad -- and attacking Smith on the campaign trail -- Merkley "is putting his personal and partisan interest above that of scores of thousands of Oregonians" and other Americans, Smith said in a hastily called news conference Friday night.

"Part of being a U.S. senator is actually understanding and reading bills of this magnitude, and not prejudging when the stakes are this high," Smith said.

Merkley "is not showing leadership. He is showing partisan opportunism. This is a profile in cowardice," Smith said.

Merkley's spokesman, Matt Canter, said Smith's anger "should be directed at himself for voting with George Bush to end accountability on Wall Street."

He added that "Smith has fostered a decade with no accountability and outrageous salaries for CEOs who drive companies into the ground and expect American taxpayers to pay for it."

As for the blank check accusation, Canter said Smith "has a track record of handing out blank checks to George Bush. Smith did it on the Iraq war and he has shown a willingness to do it again now."

Merkley, on the campaign trail, has mocked Smith for failing to take a position on the Bush administration's proposal for a $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry. The initial bill was only three pages and not too hard to understand, Merkley said.

Merkley, the Oregon House speaker, said he would oppose the bailout unless CEO paychecks are cut and middle-class taxpayers protected.

Smith said Merkley's comments show he is prepared to prejudge the bailout bill before it has even been delivered to lawmakers.

"I think it would be fitting of someone who wants to be a U.S. senator not to prejudge the momentous financial legislation since the New Deal -- or lie about my position," Smith said.