Good to be Obama

So there were two special elections for the House of Reps this past spring in which Republican candidates campaigned against their opponents by linking them to Barack Obama. The message was this person is like Obama (who is a secret radical Muslim liberal, and by the way, he's Black), so you should vote for me. Both Republicans lost in those elections, signaling that divisive campaigns and fear-mongering won't work. One of those elections was in a Republican stronghold in MISSISSIPPI; the other was North Carolina.

Now the other shoe has dropped. Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, a guy who has supported Bush's war in Iraq, his tax cuts for billionaires and wealthy corporate donors to the administration, helped blocked passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, and helped ram through right-wing extremists for federal courts, is campaigning on Obama's coattails. Smith is running ads highlighting praise Smith received from Obama on the Oregon Senator's support for better environmental policy.

I guess Smith must have been watching when 75,000 people turned out to see Obama speak in Portland earlier this month.

Times are changing.