Political Desk

Here’s a tidbit that arrived just a few minutes ago: A poll conducted for the Portland Tribune and Fox 12 News shows Barack Obama with a whopping 20-point lead over Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Steve Novick reportedly holds a slight, statistically insignificant lead over Jeff Merkley in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary. The statewide poll of 400 likely Democratic voters was conducted by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall for the Tribune and KPTV, which will release more results Wednesday.

By the way: Make a mental note to check here on Election Night after 8 p.m. We’ll have staffers blogging their stuff in from various locations around town: the Yamhill County Clerk’s Office, candidates parties, etc. Tentatively, our plan is to update the NewsRegister.com web site as we ordinarily do for elections, but we’ll lean toward posting developments on the blog first.