Pfffffft.

TJ at Loaded Orygun has one of those work-the-numbers pieces that he lives for, and he comes to two conclusions:

1. Gordon Smith's support, generally among Oregon voters and specifically among Oregon conservatives, is "absurdly low" for an incumbent. (TJ dismisses theories that Smith is unbeatable with a derisive fricative.*)

2. Smith's continued popularity (upper-mid-forties) among Oregon Democrats and independents is "not without worry for Democratic challengers." (You'll notice here that TJ employs litotes* to hedge his rhetorical bets rather than coming straight out with something un-nuanced like "a strong indication that Democrats and independents have been sampling the local mushrooms again.")

(*What can I say--you can take the boy out of the classroom, but you can't always take the classroom out of the boy. And, of course, there is also the Monty Python angle.)