Oregon Public Broadcasting

In the race for the U.S. Senate in Oregon, Jeff Merkley and Gordon Smith are spending the final week before Election Day making a last-minute push.

Both are touring the state and spending money furiously on TV ads.  But in the end, the election may come down to how many people vote for a little-known third party candidate.  Correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

Dave Brownlow is running for U.S. Senate on the cheap.  He’s not airing any ads.  He doesn’t even have a campaign office.  So I met him over coffee at a suburban diner in Clackamas.  He prefers the low-budget approach.

Dave Brownlow:  “I owe nobody anything. I’m not raising any money.  I’m not buying any favors. My only commitment is to the Constitution and to the people of Oregon to defend the Constitution.”

There’s a reason Brownlow mentions the Constitution so often.  He’s the nominee for the Constitution Party.

It’s a bit player, even as third parties go:  only 3000 people have signed up in Oregon.  But Brownlow is making waves as a possible spoiler in the high-stakes showdown between Democrat Jeff Merkley and Republican incumbent Gordon Smith.

He’s polling as high as seven or eight percent.  And conventional wisdom says that Brownlow is pulling voters away from Gordon Smith.

Dave Brownlow:  “If he loses, and I’m the margin, I’d feel great about that.  I won’t shed one tear.”

Brownlow says he appeals to conservatives left out in the cold as Smith has run a campaign that focuses on his bi-partisan appeal.

Dave Brownlow:  “I’m running because without me in the race, we’d essentially be deciding the race between two Democrats.  And I think that would be pretty unconscionable for Oregon to have no choice in the U.S. Senate.  So, I’m it.  I’m the true conservative.”

Brownlow wants to dramatically scale back the role of the federal government.  In fact, he wants to eliminate the federal income tax and get rid of the IRS.  He’s against all abortions with no exceptions.

He’s against any form of gun control.  And he wants the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations altogether.  Sounds pretty right-wing, doesn’t it?  So why is the Smith campaign running this ad?

Smith ad about Brownlow:  “Dave Brownlow:  Too liberal. Wants President Bush tried for war crimes, and favors abolishing prisons.  Dave Brownlow:  Just too liberal.”

The ad draws derision from Brownlow, who for the record doesn’t actually favor abolishing prisons.  Taking the unusual step of attacking a third party candidate, Smith may be trying to scare Republicans away from Brownlow.

Smith told reporters at a campaign stop in Salem that Brownlow is not in step with Oregonians.

Gordon Smith:  “I think people have to go explore what he believes and see if that is consistent with the common sense center of Oregon, if it’s consistent with reality and making progress with the American people.”

Smith’s chief opponent, Jeff Merkley, doesn’t want to lose votes to Dave Brownlow either.  But the Merkley campaign is relishing Smith’s aggressive move against Brownlow.

Merkley says unlike what Smith would have you think, Dave Brownlow does come from the far-right of the political spectrum.

Jeff Merkley:  “He’s extremely conservative and I think he appeals to Gordon Smith’s conservative members of the Republican Party who basically are upset that Smith has dropped the Republican brand.”

Brownlow could draw some votes from the left, too.  He’s against the war in Iraq and routinely criticizes the Bush administration on a range of issues.  But he says some voters might check the box by his name out of frustration with both major-party candidates.

Dave Brownlow:  “They know I’m probably a long-shot, and that a vote for me may in fact swing the election a different way than it would otherwise have gone.  But if they would do that, even knowing the consequences, it means we are majorly ticked off.”

So whether you call him a liberal, a conservative, or a spoiler, one thing appears certain.  Dave Brownlow could be the difference in this year’s no-holds-barred Senate race in Oregon.