Here's about as clear a sign of GOP desperation as you could wish for: GOP Senator Gordon Smith, who's locked in a brutal re-election battle in Oregon, has a new ad out hailing his work with not one but two Democratic nominees for president: Barack Obama and John Kerry, whom he routinely insulted back in 2004.

And Kerry is now taking a hard whack at Smith over it. First, here's the ad:

"Gordon Smith is my friend but the problem is that when it's come time to vote in the Senate he's been a much better friend of George Bush. Voting with George Bush ninety percent of the time just isn't good for the people and issues I've fought for over a lifetime," Kerry said in a statement.

Of course, Smith didn't always cozy up to Kerry. During the 2004 campaign he regularly bashed the Dem nominee for president. "It's not John Kerry's fault that he looks French," Smith said. "But it is his fault that he wants to pursue policies that have us act like the French."

Smith also said at the time: "So John Kerry to me represents socialism."