Say first that the numbers overall in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary were in fact fairly close. Prognosticators around Oregon split deeply in calling this race - it was a tough call - and with two-thirds of the vote out, you have House Speaker Jeff Merkley at 45% and attorney Steve Novick 41%, a gap (at this writing) of about 18,000 votes out of around 400,000 votes cast. Considering the organizational and structural advantages Merkley had, Novick’s race was remarkable: He turned a longshot into a near-win.

You have to notice something else too, though.

With just two counties not yet reporting ballots (two of the state’s smallest, Wheeler and Gilliam), a geographic pattern of wins has emerged, and it is stark. The race was fairly tight mainly, specifically, because of Multnomah County, where at present Novick has an edge of about 11,500 votes. In the whole rest of the state (excluding, again, those two late counties) Novick won just two counties, Benton (46%-43%) and Clatsop (where he leads by 19 votes - that county realistically still is too close to call). Novick had the serious Portland appeal, but elsewhere Merkley sold better. And it wouldn’t have been just the TV ads: He won decisively too in the rural counties where those ads were less seen.

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