Last week Oregon Senator Ron Wyden held town hall meetings in-state about Iraq. Wyden was among the minority of senators opposed to war in Iraq from the beginning, among those most consistently critical. He seemed to barely escape with his skin intact from the Portland event (more than 300 during a noon hour), and Eugene wasn’t a lot kinder: Wyden wasn’t nearly critical enough of the Bush administration to suit these Oregon crowds.

Said one: “Do you have any idea how angry we are at the Democrats?” – for not being sufficiently fierce in opposition. He went on to ask: “How do you sleep at night?” Oregonian columnist David Sarasohn suggested that “the audience members demanding impeachment were the moderates.”

We’re not suggesting here that those 300 were typical of all Oregon voters. But we do think there’s a change in the political center of gravity, that some ideas and concepts not quite mainstream even a few months ago may be becoming so.

Call that preface to today’s announcement from the new Jeff Merkley Democratic campaign for the Senate (against Republican incumbent Gordon Smith) calling for the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. (Specifically, he’s supporting the resolution introduced a few weeks back by Washington Representative Jay Inslee.)

“Only through impeachment proceedings will we be able to hold the Attorney General accountable for his actions. I applaud Oregon’s four Democratic Congressional Members for their early leadership in co-sponsoring the Inslee resolution in the House,” he wrote.

Three or four months ago, you might have called that daring. Today, it’s a signal that Merkley’s aiming for the Oregon Democratic mainstream.