Oregon Public Broadcasting

Anyone running for office these days is expected to maintain a robust online presence. But this year, some candidates in Oregon and Washington are benefiting from slickly produced websites devoted solely to attacking the opponent.

On the day Chris Dudley won the Oregon Republican primary for governor, Oregon Democrats launched a website called DudleyDolittle.com.

Republicans soon countered with TaxHaber.com, aimed at Democratic nominee John Kitzhaber.

Now, the Democratic Governors Association, a national group, has unveiled YouDontKnowDudley.com. Of course, there's nothing new about harsh campaign rhetoric aimed at opponents.

But these websites are much cheaper to produce than a television ad, says University of Oregon political science professor Joseph Lowndes.

And he says they enable core supporters to easily spread the message to their friends.

Joseph Lowndes: "Passing it from people with shared partisan commitments to people who may not share such strong partisan commitments but may trust you, the one who's sending along the story over Facebook or email."

In Washington, the union funded group Evergreen Progress has a website aimed at Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dino Rossi.