Merkley makes gains; Smith campaign spends

The Jeff Merkley campaign continues to gain ground. The widely respected Cook Report moved the race from Republican-leaning to toss up.

The good folks over at Swing State Project take a more cautious approach, but also see the race moving from likely Republican to leans Republican.

Meanwhile, Gordon Smith keeps on his spending juggernaut, releasing a campaign ad that was debunked before it even hit the airwaves. Smith's ads haven't exactly been warmly received. As has been noted elsewhere, Smith is running the most negative Senate campaign in the country and is still behind in the polls.

Or perhaps its the whiney tone of Smith's campaign that's causing the erosion. Smith's latest gripe has to do with issue ads in which Merkley appears--apparently giving the Smith campaign serious heartburn.

Smith is caterwauling to every media outlet in the state and the only ones who seem to care are already firmly ensconced up Smith's ass.

Not even Smith's filing of an FEC complaint against Merkley is generating the outrage Smith is seeking. This may be due to the fact that Smith is no stranger to FEC violation filings himself.

In the meantime, Merkley continues his 100 Towns tour of Oregon--even taking time out to make a splash at Netroots Nation.