New Merkley TV spot: Jeff Merkley and Gordon Smith Come From Two Very Different Places

Merkley Will End Unfair Trade Deals and Bailouts for Big Oil Companies, Create Quality Jobs

Today Jeff Merkley's campaign for U.S. Senate released a new television ad featuring Jeff Merkley talking directly to Oregonians about how he and Gordon Smith come from two very different places. While Gordon Smith inherited a frozen food fortune, Jeff Merkley was raised in Myrtle Creek and Roseburg, the son of a sawmill worker.

The 30-second spot entitled "Places" highlights Jeff Merkley's plan to end unfair trade deals and bailouts for oil companies and create quality jobs for middle class families. When Jeff Merkley sees unfair trade deals and jobs being outsourced overseas, he thinks about communities like the ones where he grew up.

View the new ad.

"While Steve Novick's negative ad insults me and my fellow Democrats, I'm taking direct aim at Gordon Smith," said House Speaker Jeff Merkley. "Gordon Smith has sided with George Bush and ignored the needs of hardworking families. Oregonians are looking for a new leader who understands that unfair trade deals and bailouts for big oil companies have hurt our economy and we need quality jobs with good health care and child care we can count on."

View more information on Merkley's plan to create quality jobs.

Jeff Merkley spent his early years in rural Oregon in communities where the children of loggers and mill workers learned the value of honest work, good neighbors, and strong families. Jeff earned scholarships and became the first in his family to go to college. He went on to serve as a national security analyst, first for the Pentagon and then for Congress. After returning to Oregon with his wife Mary, Jeff led Habitat for Humanity and worked to help low-income families purchase a home, start a business or save for college.

As Oregon's next U.S. Senator, Jeff Merkley will take on the special interests and fight for regular hardworking Oregonians. He will take on the big insurance and drug companies to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. He will end unfair trade deals that have cost Oregon 70,000 manufacturing jobs and close tax loopholes for corporations that ship jobs overseas. And Merkley will end the war in Iraq, bring our sons and daughters home, and fulfill the commitment we have made to our veterans and men and women in uniform.

Today, Jeff Merkley lives in East Multnomah County with Mary, a registered nurse at Providence Portland Medical Center, and their two children, Jonathan age twelve and Brynne age ten.

Complete Script: "Places"

Jeff Merkley: My dad was a logger, a millworker -- in Myrtle Creek and Roseburg.

JM: I'm Jeff Merkley. And I approve this message.

Posted May 1, 2008
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