merkley.JPG

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., on Tuesday launched a new ad criticizing rival Republican Monica Wehby.

(The Oregonian/Brent Wojahn)

Sen. Jeff Merkley aired a new ad Tuesday attacking Republican challenger Monica Wehby as he sought to capitalize on the allegations of plagiarism that had recently hit her campaign.

The new ad comes as Freedom Partners, a group connected with conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, is halting its advertised attacks against Merkley in Oregon. The group said three weeks ago that it had canceled its October advertising campaign against Merkley and the group on Tuesday confirmed that it has not bought any additional time at this point.

With his new commercial, Merkley is making clear that he is not going to sit on his lead in the polls and avoid mentioning Wehby. Instead, the ad refers to media reports about Wehby's health care and economic policy papers that copies language used by other Republican sources.

"Monica Wehby made their agenda her agenda, plagiarizing from Karl Rove and national Republicans, copying an agenda that hurts the middle class," Merkley's ad says.

Wehby spokesman Dean Petrone countered in a statement that the ad was a "laughable attack coming from someone whose entire term has been a copy and paste job of Harry Reid and his political cronies."

Merkley campaign spokesman Jamal Raad said the ad is "part of our core message" that Wehby's views are essentially the same as Republican national leaders. "And now we have the proof," said Raad.

SIDE NOTE: Wehby said in an interview with conservative talk show host Lars Larson that she still hoped to do a debate sponsored by KGW TV and The Oregonian. The station pulled the plug on the debate last week after Wehby would not commit to appearing.

Wehby on Monday proposed that she and Merkley hold three other debates in Portland (in addition to an Oct. 14 debate the two have agreed to hold in Medford). Larson repeatedly prodded Wehby to explain why she passed up the opportunity to debate Merkley on KGW, and she replied, "We are doing the debate, Lars...If there's anything in my power to push it forward, we will and that is my goal to get that debate on."

-- Jeff Mapes