As you may have read/heard by now, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (3rd District—hollla!) formally announced on BlueOregon.com that he is not—NOT—running for Gordon Smith’s Senate seat, joining Congressman Peter DeFazio in the “thanks, but no thanks” category.

That totally blows my favorite, completely baseless political prediction I’d been kicking around for a while, which was that Blumenauer would run for Senate, and City Commissioner Sam Adams would run for Blumenauer’s seat. That prediction wasn’t grounded in any insight or inside knowledge, simply on the idea that Adams could easily win the race and take his passion for transportation to a federal level. Lobbying the Congress for more transportation dollars for Portland is, after all, one of his current job duties. So now that’s shot. Thanks a ton, Earl.

Now, everyone (and by “everyone,” I mean “commenters at Blue Oregon”) is asking the question, who should run for senate now that Blumenauer’s out? There are a number of possibilities being thrown around, but here’s the thing—there’s already someone who’s announced and who is already running his campaign: Steve Novick. Hey Democrats, instead of waiting around for your imaginary Prince Charming, why not throw a little support in the direction of the guy who’s already here?