Let’s face it: It’s unlikely we’ll be seeing presidential contenders Barack Obama or John McCain in Oregon this late in the election season. The pundits—The New York Times among them—have even moved our state from wish-washy purple to solidly blue on the presidential electoral map.

But that doesn’t mean any of the other few dozen local and state races are already sewn up—not in the least. There are major statewide offices up for grabs this year: Who do you want to manage your money (treasurer), defend Oregon from crookery (attorney general) and bring some much-needed integrity and oversight to the elections process (secretary of state)?

There’s also a long list of city, county and state races as well as plenty of drama in this year’s “down ballot” races. Voting only for president ain’t enough this year, people—give some love to all those races and measures from the bottom of your ballot straight to the top.

Among the most critical contests: the race for one of Oregon’s U.S. Senate seats, between two-term incumbent Republican Gordon Smith and his challenger, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, D-Portland. Because Smith has such a wildly varied record on queer equality issues and because both candidates have come out swinging hard, we’ll start there with our spotlight series on the 2008 general election. Now get out your No. 2 pencils and get to work.