The baffling outcome in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate

Kari Chisholm FacebookTwitterWebsite

I have to admit it, folks. Last week's primary election baffled me.

Specifically, the outcome in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Mark Callahan -- the "blah blah blah" guy -- won the opportunity to run against (and lose to) Senator Ron Wyden.

Callahan won the four-way race with 38%, besting Sam Carpenter (32%), Faye Stewart (18%), and Dan Laschober (11%).

But for the life of me, I can't figure out how he did it. WW's Nigel Jaquiss calls it a "head-scratcher".

One possible theory: Carpenter described himself as "Trumpish", while Callahan compared himself to Ted Cruz on his website. But even if that was appealing to Oregon GOP voters, is it really possible that over 118,000 voters found their way to his website? Unlikely.

And I've not seen any reporting or analysis that attempts to figure it out. So let's figure it out together, dear readers.

How did Mark Callahan pull it off? Was there an underground campaign we didn't see? What are we missing?

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