According to the Oregonian, U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio has announced that he will not be running for senate against Gordon Smith.

The Draft DeFazio blog has posted a message from DeFazio’s staff that was sent to “the netroots”:

I have concluded that I can best serve the people of this state by staying in the House and using my seniority and subcommittee chairmanship to improve federal investments in our critical infrastructure and to fight for the interests of Oregonians. But make no mistake, we need to defeat Gordon Smith and elect a Senator who will fight for all Oregonians and Oregon values every day, not just under pressure of re-election.

Eyes will now shift to Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who’s also been shortlisted for the seat. And, of course, eyes are already on Steve Novick, who announced earlier this week that’s running.

Novick says the announcement won’t change much for him or his campaign.

“I was running two days ago, and I’m running now,” he says. “Two days ago, I said Gordon Smith was for government of the rich, by the powerful, and for the special interests, and that’s still true today. I’m a Peter DeFazio Democrat, so I’ll be running on many of the same things that he would have run on.”

As for the question of Blumenauer—what will Novick do if the congressman steps in—Novick repeated the same answer he gave when asked about DeFazio last week: “That would be a great problem for Oregon Democrats to have.”

Blogger TJ, of Draft DeFazio and the LoadedOrygun blog, says DeFazio’s announcement is “disappointing, but it’s good that he made the decision in a relatively timely manner.”

“The issue here is that Gordon Smith’s position hasn’t changed,” TJ added. “He’s still vulnerable to a strong Democrat with solid backing.”

TJ and his fellow DeFazio drafters have raised over $3,500 in an ActBlue account—that money has gone directly to DeFazio. They’ve already started a poll in the comments of this BlueOregon post to gather recommendations for how DeFazio should spend that money. Of course, it’s all advisory—DeFazio can do pretty much whatever he wants with it.

Update: Blumenauer’s office just called and, surprise surprise, there’s no definitive answer. His Portland aide, Willie Smith, says the congressman’s focus is on legislative work over the next couple of months, and not on any campaign.

“The focus is clearly on creating a new direction,” Smith says. “We have a great opportunity now that Democrats have taken over the House and Senate, and we don’t want to get distracted from that by talking about a campaign that wouldn’t need to start right now anyway.”

Besides, Smith says, Blumenauer’s now on the House Ways and Means Committee (one of the windfalls of a blue majority), and “he’s really excited about that.”

And that’s the trick with trying to get sitting Democratic congressmen or congresswomen to run for senate—they’ve already got a safe seat, plus seniority, and are in the majority for the first time in more than a decade. Who’d risk that for a senate campaign?