04/04/2008

By JULIA SILVERMAN  / Associated Press

Democratic Senate hopefuls Jeff Merkley and Steve Novick clashed over tax policy, party loyalty and some nasty campaigning during a debate Friday at the City Club of Portland.

The forum was maybe the highest-profile showdown in a battle to win the May 20 primary and take on U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, a two-term Republican incumbent.

On most issues, Merkley and Novick have much in common: They share a commitment to ending the war in Iraq and to substantial health care reform, to mass transportation and combating global warming and to restoring federal payments to timber-dependent counties.

Their campaigns against each other, then, have often revolved around matters of style.

On Friday, Merkley tweaked Novick for unflattering comments he'd made about Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Novick retaliated by criticizing Merkley for a recent poll paid for by the Merkley campaign that tested negative attacks on Novick.

Both campaigns are reaching a pivotal stage: With Oregon's suddenly consequential presidential primary, voter interest in the primary could reach an all-time high. Thousands of voters have switched their registrations to Democratic from Republican or Independent to be able to vote in the Democratic contest.

On stage Friday, Merkley began by casting himself as the man who led Oregon Democrats back into power in the Oregon House — holding together a slim majority to pass a wide slate of progressive-leaning legislation, from a crackdown on the payday loan industry to a bulk purchasing pool for prescription drugs.

Novick began with a theme that's followed him not just in his campaign, but in his life: He pledged his faith in the power of public services, and the need to pay for critical services through fair taxation.

Both candidates did touch on substantive policy differences.

For example, Novick said he wouldn't have voted for a plan Merkley supported in the Oregon Legislature to restrict driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, saying it would simply put more unlicensed drivers on the road, pushing up insurance costs.

Merkley, however, said "a driver's license conveys a legal presence."

But the real fireworks began when the two candidates were each allowed to ask each other three questions.

Novick led off, bringing up the recent poll from the Merkley campaign that cast him as a "pro-tax advocate" and a "professional political consultant," and asking whether Merkley really considered that rhetoric to be fair game.

Merkley responded that Novick had been on the offensive from day one, jumping on a Republican talking point against Merkley, that he once voted for a legislative resolution expressing support for the troops at the beginning of the Iraq war, which also praised the courage of President Bush.

Merkley then hammered Novick on previous statements about Democratic leaders, informing the audience that Novick had once called Obama "another captive-of-special-interests fraud who doesn't really care about global warming and doesn't deserve to be hailed as some great Kenya-Kansas hope."

"I keep trying to picture you going to President Obama, and saying, 'I know I have called you a special interest fraud, but please help me with county payments,'" Merkley said.

Novick acknowledged that some of his language may have been "over-the-top" and noted that he'd also offered praise for Obama, but said he wasn't afraid to criticize fellow Democrats when "they depart from progressive principles."

After the debate, audience members seemed split between the two, saying they had both impressed, but that neither had landed a knock-out blow.

"Their philosophical attitudes are so similar, that it's a toss-up from that point of view," said Richard Lakeman of Portland who said he was an undecided voter. "But I'm not anxious to see someone spends a lot of time being critical of others."