Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) brags in a new television advertisement that he was worked closely and fruitfully with -- and the music really does swell -- Barack Obama.
Not Smith's good friend John McCain.
But Barack Obama.
Not the incumbent president (a la Max Baucus and tax cuts in 2002), but the Democratic presidential nominee.
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Marc Ambinder is a senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy.