Ah … politics. Why are we always surprised when it turns ugly?

The Smith-Merkley campaign for U.S. Senate has been a mud bath, making both candidates unappealing and cheating Oregon voters of an honest campaign about the critical issues facing us in today’s economy.

Republican Smith, dogged by the poor public opinion of the party in power for the past eight years, should be talking about his record. Although he agreed with the Bush administration about 82 percent of the time, he did break from the party on several important issues.

He voted for the war in Iraq, but two years ago he said from the floor of the Senate, “I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs, day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that any more.”

Cynics called it grandstanding or politically expedient; we think he was sincere.

Smith has worked across the aisle to broaden the federal hate crimes law to cover violence against gays and lesbians.

In 2006, he crossed party lines and voted for stem cell research, just one of 19 Senate Republicans to do so. Bush vetoed the law.

Merkley, a former security analyst for the Pentagon and Congress, is a policy wonk who should be talking about one of the most productive legislative sessions in a generation under his leadership as Senate president. He, too, has a reputation for working across party lines.

In the end, we think voters should return Gordon Smith to the Senate, but we sure wish we could do it without first having to wash off the mud.

In U.S. District 1, no mud is being thrown, but Democrat David Wu will win in a landslide. We liked the views of his opponent, Independent Joel Haugen, though. In his interview with our editorial board, Haugen stressed putting the nation first, with party politics “back in the queue somewhere.”

He says there are five issues that can and should be addressed in a nonpartisan manner: energy and global warming; public education, which he feels is a national defense issue; a reformed tax code, which he says is “hopelessly broken”; a cooperative foreign policy that regains our country’s position in the world; and the ability to provide quality health care for all citizens.

But, with no money and little name recognition, Haugen doesn’t stand a chance. Too bad.

David Wu, who is campaigning for his sixth term, will continue to serve us as he has for the past 10 years. We need a few more politicians like Joel Haugen to elevate the bar.