SOME NICE NEWS – AT 9:22 A.M. ET:  With all the grimness, we look for positive things to report, as a little smile goes a long way.  Consider this, from Fox:

A Republican challenger has pulled even with blue state Oregon's Democratic incumbent governor, according to a new poll.

The news comes as a surprise in a state that hasn’t seen a Republican governor since late 1980s, sparking fears of the end of Democratic Party’s total domination of the state.

The poll indicates that Republican state Rep. Knute Buehler is waging a serious challenge to Gov. Kate Brown, a vocal critic of President Trump, with both candidates getting support from 45 percent of likely voters, the Oregonian reported.

Oregon is considered a solid blue state, with Democrats controlling both the state House and Senate, while Brown has been the governor since 2015.

The poll, conducted by Florida-based Gravis Marketing, invigorated the race overnight, though Democrats began questioning its validity.

“It's hard to understand how this is a reputable piece of public opinion research,” Brown’s campaign spokesman, Christian Gaston, told the Oregonian.

But other pollsters in the state aren’t dismissing the poll showing the two candidates deadlocked in the race, saying Brown doesn’t have strong voter support.

COMMENT:  We always caution about putting too much faith in one poll, but this is a breath of fresh, or at least filtered air.  Oregon has gone fashionably left, and maybe the people of the state, looking south at the mess of San Francisco, have had it.  We hope so.

July 25,  2018