New U.S Senator Jeff Merkley may have got himself elected last November, but his campaign has sent out an email this afternoon to supporters, asking for donations get itself out of debt.

MERKLEY: PROBABLY SPENT ALL HIS CAMPAIGN CASH ON PLAID JACKETS AIMED AT OREGON'S HANK STAMPERS...

Merkley won a bitter fight with former Republican senator Gordon Smith, but says the campaign had to spend more than it received in donations because of Smith's dirty tricks. Here's the email:

Dear Friend,

Because of your support, we won one of the toughest races in the country last November. Your trust keeps me focused and working hard every day to get our country back on track.

But as a result of the millions of dollars in attack ads that my opponent and right-wing outside groups ran against me in the 2008 election cycle, my campaign had to go into debt in order to keep fighting.

Please help me retire my debt. Make a contribution today!

Merkley asks for donations of $50, $25, or $10. We'll have a firm figure for the total campaign debt from his people, of the Federal Elections Commission, soon. But to state the obvious: It's a bad time to be asking for money in Oregon politics.

Update, 1:56pm: Merkley has a campaign debt of $514,909.77 according to the FEC. His rival, Gordon Smith, meanwhile, is in just $58,714.51 of debt.