(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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By EDER CAMPUZANO

The Oregonian/OregonLive

It’s long been rumored that Jeff Merkley would run for president in 2020.

The junior Democratic senator from Oregon didn't rule out a White House run when he spoke with CNN last year. He also penned an op-ed in an Iowa newspaper last year, adding fuel to the fire. And if the tweetstorm from Merkley's official account denouncing and fact-checking President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address is any indication, yeah, the guy is definitely eyeing the Democratic nomination in two years.

The senator's posts were handled by Chief of Staff Mike Zamore, who stuck to many facts and figures Merkley often employs during media appearances and meetings with constituents.

He matched the president’s claims almost one-to-one with a tweet or retweet disputing Trump’s figures and policy proposals, almost as if the two were engaging in a debate during an election year. (An admittedly one-sided debate, but a debate nonetheless.)

Trump began his oration in part by expressing reverence for the American flag and troops, singling out in particular Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy who set up a crowdfunding campaign to decorate the graves of fallen veterans with miniature flags.

Then, he expressed much the same for police across the country and the Merkley snark began in earnest:

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Police deserve unwavering support... unless they're investigating Russian attacks on our democracy. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

Then, Trump touted the GOP’s dissolution of the individual mandate, a key component of the Affordable Care Act that imposed tax penalties on folks who go without health insurance, to which Merkley responded with:

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Yes, individual mandate is gone and now 13 million will lose their insurance, premiums will go up 10% more than they were going to otherwise. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

(The numbers are a bit inflated — the 10 million figure and others often touted by Democrats also include people who would opt to go without insurance, not exactly "kicking them off.")

When the president bragged about the regulations his administration has done away with in the last year:

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Lots of asthmatic kids are at home not cheering for the evisceration of regulations. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

This is Merkley’s response to Trump touting automakers opening new plants in the United States:

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Auto industry's growing in America. Thanks, Obama! #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

(The president was referring to Fiat Chrysler's new $1 billion plant in Michigan, while Merkley touted the Obama Administration's bailout of the auto industry in the years since the 2008 housing crisis.)

And then the president said he planned to drastically cut the price of prescription drugs, to which Merkley tweeted:

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Trump's HHS secretary was a senior Pharma exec while his company jacked up prices. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

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Trump just called on Congress to let Medicare negotiate drug prices, right? Right? #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

When Trump announced his desire for infrastructure funding, pledging to bolster American production with the incentive:

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We'll build with American grit and all -- but what about American jobs? Why won't @realDonaldTrump stand behind Buy American? #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

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We'll build with American grit and all -- but what about American jobs? Why won't @realDonaldTrump stand behind Buy American? #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

(That tweet is a reference to findings that Trump products, including vodka and menswear, were not made in the U.S. The president's infamous "Make America Great Again" hats, however, are crafted in the country. Rumors about the caps being made in China have repeatedly been debunked by fact-checking agencies.)

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Trump's infrastructure plan is designed to encourage new #TrumpTolls in order to line pockets on Wall Street. We need a plan that puts middle class jobs and the needs of our communities ahead of his developer friends. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

When the president announced his intent to close loopholes in immigration law that he said allowed violent gang members to enter the country, Merkley countered with a retweet of New York Times columnist — and former Yamhill resident — Nicholas Kristoff, who posted about a PBS report that dives into numbers that show immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born U.S. citizens.

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Trump is insinuating that immigrants cause violent crime. In fact, research is overwhelming that immigrants commit substantially fewer crimes than native-born Americans: https://t.co/z6zCy9ifeH — Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 31, 2018

And when Trump said he wanted Congress to act on immigration reform, Merkley replied with the following:

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If after ending #DACA and threatening to deport 800k members of our communities, @realDonaldTrump actually had second thoughts and wants to fix the problem he created, he should be calling on Congress to pass the #DREAM Act now, not issuing ransom demands. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

(Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump Administration's move to end DACA in September. In response, Democrats have stalled funding legislation in hopes of securing a deal for "Dreamers," the group of undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them to the U.S. as children who were granted temporary deportation protections and work permits under the Obama Administration.)

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Americans are dreamers… and DREAMers are Americans! #CleanDreamActNow #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

(Merkley and Oregon's other five Democrats on Capitol Hill invited six Oregon Dreamers to the president's address.)

Although much of the State of the Union focused on policy proposals the Trump White House would take to Congress, the president did offer at least one action he'd take on himself. Trump announced that he would keep the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay open, a shift from his predecessor's proposal.

He also announced opposition to North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the conduct of a few other countries.

And Merkley had a tweet for that, too:

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North Korea is everything Trump says it is. But blustering threats are not going to make us safer. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

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Bragging on sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, however yesterday he declined to sanction the dictatorship in Russia that attacked the U.S. Curious. #SOTU — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 31, 2018

Merkley, by all accounts, has done much of the legwork to test the waters for a 2020 White House bid throughout 2017. And his series of tweets Tuesday evening can only serve to survey the landscape should he seek the Democratic nomination in a couple of years.

But although the junior senator from Oregon was one of the state’s most vocal representatives as the president delivered his State of the Union address, he certainly wasn’t the only one doing so.

Sen. Ron Wyden, another Democrat from Oregon, fired back at Trump throughout his speech, much as he does during town hall meetings when he travels back to the Beaver State:

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Massive increases in defense spending will make defense contractors rich and do nothing to make America safer. We can’t afford to waste money on Republicans’ cronies while neglecting schools and roads. — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2018

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.@realDonaldTrump has replaced one disgraced Health Secretary who worked to undermine health care with another who made a fortune raising drug prices. #SOTU — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2018

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Throwing taxpayer dollars at Trump’s wealthy buddies to privatize our roads, bridges and highways is not the formula for fixing America’s infrastructure. #SOTUhttps://t.co/Ih9qejYILO — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2018

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Remember when the Trump Administration told America’s steelworkers to get in line and wait until after Republican tax cut? They are still waiting. #SOTU https://t.co/51DnUGPQVu — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2018

So, what do you think?

Is Jeff Merkley readying a White House run in 2020? Will these tweets and stances help thrust him into the spotlight if he seeks the Democratic nomination?

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