Merkley-

Merkley is probably the strongest but that's not saying much.

I'm pulling for Merkley too but still expect Smith to win comfortably.

Pulling for the Speaker over a guy like Steve Novick is like cheering for USC Football. Sure, you'll feel good. But it's not entirely daring. Anyways I'm hooked on Novick.

Any polling?

Kitzhaber's endorsement http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OR_KITZHABER_NOVICK_OROL-?SITE=KOPB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT could be a big deal for Novick.

Interesting. Although I think that Merkley's still the frontrunner (and I don't think it matters much, since I believe they'd both lose to Smith), the backing of Novick by a couple of recent Oregonian political figures (Kitzhaber and to a somewhat lesser extent AuCoin) might very well help him out. A poll would be nice for this race, seeing as we're only a little under three months from it.

A poll would be nice for this race, seeing as we're only a little under three months from it. http://www.rileyresearch.com/polls/2008_1_31_riley_report.pdf (.pdf)

Thank you!

Wow, 12%-9%. Talk about electoral powerhouses. Welcome back to the Senate, Mr. Smith.

eQualityGiving has decided to hedge its bets here.

Neville's ahead of Merkley now? Uh, yikes.

Only 11% for Merkley? That's pretty bad at this point. Clearly there's a lot of people undecided still who don't even know who the candidates are but still... he should be doing better than this.

If I hadn't already predicted that Novick would take it, I'd do so now. This race is Exhibit 1 of how the DSCC wouldn't know a strong candidate if one walked up and kicked them in the ass.

DSCC doesn't get involved in a primary that's clearly dividing the state party.

I'd love to know how the hell David Loera, whoever that is, is getting 6% of the vote.

"DSCC doesn't get involved in a primary that's clearly dividing the state party." Bullshit. They recruited Merkley to run in the first place. Look it up.

Merkley's standing in this poll is pathetic. With that said, they're probably biding their time, and laying the groundwork for a huge ad blitz in the final two weeks of the campaign to capture the lion's share of the giant bloc of undecided voters here.

According to the article the poll is from, Merkley will start runing his first ads tomorrow in Portland and Eugene.

I Googled it see and found the same. I guess he won't be waiting until the last couple of weeks. The polls should begin to shift soon.

Not if Novick can come up with another free-media-generating ad, like "A Beer with Steve."

That didn't get him that much of the vote. There's still a large percentage that is undecided.

Craverguy seems to believe every candidate he likes is the stronger one.