[Please do not rec this diary, but the mothership diary instead]
I read great things about Merkley's debate with Smith a few weeks ago, and do believe Merkley is going to be all over this one - which is going to rock. :->
All times will be EST.
9.40pm: Nothing in yet..
Nov 5: 10.16am. Oh dear God -- Smith is ahead by 15k votes from about 1M cast, and 75% reporting. oh, man. i really thought this one was in the bag. dang. not yet called on the CNN page though, which is something. any info from folks on the ground there..?
Thx for the comments below already -- i'm a native Californian, so regard Oregon as our friendly neighbors to the North.
I nearly met Gordo (Sen. Gordon Smith) in person once when i was 'lobbying' for particle physics funding in the Senate in 2005 (it's a trip that Fermilab and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center jointly sponsor yearly to raise awareness among legislators of how significant for the economy science funding is), but he cancelled out at the last minute for some vote or other, so i can't say i have a warm spot in my heart for him or anything of this nature.
Further, having worked in forestry activism when i lived in CA, i'm well aware of how anti-enviro Gordo's votes were, and he certainly was an enabler of the Bush Admin the whole way through, so no, i don't feel good about him in any way.
Further, Merkley is really a rockstar from what i've heard of him so far, so i'm looking forward to this switch in the Senate -- he is going to be an awesome support man for Obama.