Breathe easy (well, not that easy, since there’s still fake Cesium-7 particles floating through downtown Portland): Gov. Ted Kulongoski didn’t pretend croak during the TOPOFF exercise.

According to the Oregonian, which has more reporters covering the terror drill than we have total employees, Kulongoski decided to ditch his plans to “practice succession procedures” by fake dying and handing over the state’s reins to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury.

It’s a smart media move—the headline would have written itself: “Did Gov. Fake His Death To Avoid Answering Questions About The Goldschmidt Scandal?”

On that note, Kulongoski today apologized to TV reporters for walking off during the TOPOFF press conference yesterday, saying that he wasn’t mad and that he didn’t want to distract from the terror exercise. He wouldn’t comment on the Oregon State Bar inquiry except to say that he plans to cooperate fully with their investigation.