Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Oregon Democrats start off the cycle in good shape

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Leading Off: • OR-Sen, OR-Gov: Public Policy Polling's new look at Oregon indicates that the 2014 Senate and gubernatorial races aren't on track to become competitive, unless the GOP can scrape up either of the state's two top-tier options: Gordon Smith or Greg Walden. (And they won't: Smith is ensconced on K Street, while Walden was just tapped to run the NRCC and isn't about to give that up.) Freshman Sen. Jeff Merkley and three-term Gov. John Kitzhaber both have solid approvals (44/29 and 50/41 respectively), though the state's most popular politician remains Dem Sen. Ron Wyden (at 57/24). Here are the head-to-heads. First Merkley: • 47-43 vs. ex-Sen. Gordon Smith • 47-42 vs. Rep. Greg Walden • 53-36 vs. state GOP chair & loser of '10 gubernatorial primary Allen Alley • 52-34 vs. state House co-speaker Bruce Hanna • 52-32 vs. state Sen. & loser of '12 Labor Comm. race Bruce Starr And Kitzhaber looks much the same: • 47-42 vs. Smith • 49-40 vs. Walden • 52-37 vs. Alley • 52-33 vs. Hanna • 53-31 vs. Starr Oregonians also looked poised to move forward on a potential initiative to approve same-sex marriage: They favor the idea 54-40, including 68-30 among voters under age 45. Perhaps the most shocking number from the sample is that respondents approve of the Oregon Ducks' quirky football uniforms—which have often resembled an explosion at the Mountain Dew factory—by a 43-13 margin.

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