Lincoln, Neb. ? The state Republican party has hijacked the domain name of a 25-year-old Democratic congressional candidate, posting pictures of him drinking and smoking gleaned off the social networking site Facebook.

The state party got the jump on Max Yashirin, registering www.maxyashirin.com last week, said Matt Miltenberger, executive director of the state Republican Party.

Yashirin announced his candidacy on Thursday.

“I can’t believe that they would stoop that low,” said Yashirin, a former Marine Corps sergeant who is challenging Republican incumbent Jeff Fortenberry in Nebraska’s 1st District. “Obviously they must be taking me seriously. This is what people do when they really feel threatened.”

The site came down Monday morning, but Republican leaders said it was because of Web site maintenance, not second thoughts.

“We’re using it to highlight the differences between our two-term congressman and a 25-year-old who hasn’t finished college,” Miltenberger said. “Our goal is not to be malicious or mean.”

It’s telling that the Republicans’ first shot in the race is negative, said Matt Connealy, executive director of the Nebraska Democrats, who called the move by the GOP “not very classy.”

“This is a military veteran that the Republicans are attacking,” Connealy said. “I think Nebraskans … are not going to put up with this kind of behavior.”

Yashirin said it was his mistake not to register the domain name when he decided to run. His official campaign Web site isn’t up yet, and his Facebook site has been taken down.

Yashirin said he was 23 or 24 in the pictures. He said that he wasn’t doing anything illegal and is “a normal person” who enjoys drinking a beer and smoking a cigar on occasion.

Yashirin faces a steep challenge in the race, taking on a Republican incumbent in a state where Democrats have struggled historically.

Yashirin joined the Marine Reserves after graduating from Lincoln’s Northeast High School.

He started working on a degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in international business with minors in Russian and economics.

Yashirin was called to active duty in 2004 and served a year at al-Asad in western Iraq.

He now works with people with mental and physical disabilities at Region 5 Services and is finishing his degree at UNL.

Fortenberry is in his second term and is running for re-election.