Sorry for the delay in posts -- I've been recovering since Tuesday's victory and the fabulous gathering with Sam Adams' team at the Jupiter Hotel here in Portland. Phew! What a week!

Before I get into any hifalutin talk about progress, change, or any other synonym, I want to point out one of my wonkier accomplishments: I won the BlueOregon punditology challenge! Along with consultant Sal Peralta, I correctly pegged 22 of the 27 races, along with successfully predicting all nine legislative races! Here's the e-mail sent around:

Well, the election has come and gone - and so has another round of Punditology.

Which Oregon political nerds reigned supreme? Which prognosticators had the clearest crystal ball?

Top honors go to 2006 legislative candidate and consultant Sal Peralta and blogger Ben DuPree from Witigonen.com. They each correctly picked 22 of 27 races. Ben nailed all nine legislative races correctly, and Sal correctly nailed all five of the local races outside Multnomah County. All hail Sal and Ben!

The top 20 punditologists are listed below. But first, here's how you did:
You correctly picked 22 races out of 27, ranking #1 out of 259.

In short: I rule! Can I get these results on some sort of plaque? Or perhaps a big chain that I can wear around my neck...

Now, about that change thing. Tuesday's election was progress' kick-start. Here in Portland, Sam Adams won outright and will be the city's next mayor. The evening was surreal. I was hoping for over 50% in the initial returns, which I thought would portend a good night. When we hit 57% almost immediately, many of us exchanged looks and this silent, eye-popping idea: holy shit, we're going to win this! This was all validated moments later when Sho conceded, Sam took the stage, and victory ensued. I got to join Sam on-stage as one of the campaign staffers, and it was humbling. From my vantage point a couple of feet from him, the tone of his voice and water in his eyes showed just how awe-struck and humbled he was. He's a fantastic person and will make one of the best mayors our city has ever seen. For my part, it was an honor to help him there.

As for the rest of the night, most of my attention was on the Senate primary, where Jeff Merkley beat Steve Novick for the right to take on Gordon Smith. With the Republican brand failing, Smith knows he's in trouble. In fact, he only barely leads against Jeff, 45-42. In my mind, Jeff is the right man to take on Gordon Smith and he'll bring some serious fight, both to the campaign trail and (eventually) to Washington. He's a principled progressive, and we need someone like him representing us.

With that in mind, the Senate Guru has added Jeff to its ActBlue page and is starting the push with a mini-fundraising drive. If you can contribute and be part of the 20 Twenties for Merkley, please do so!

I'd also like to congratulate my friend Christine Lewis, who helmed Jules Kopel-Bailey's successful primary victory in Oregon's HD 42. Jules is simply awesome and will make a fantastic legislator in Salem. His commitment to the environment and sustainability is exactly what we need.

Ah, progress. I've never been quite so proud to be an Oregonian. With Barack Obama at the helm, this Democratic party and its activists will be moving forward (which will happen soon, considering how the superdelegates are moving towards Obama). And, oh, the places we'll go.