Not too many surprises so far in the big races… Obama up by a healthy margin over Hills; Merkley looks like the winner going away, soon to be the Sacrificial Lamb against incumbent Gordon Smith for US Senate.

In the Portland races, it looks like Sam “The Tram” Adams has dispatched Sho Dozono without a runoff. The tally is currently 57.84% to 33.99%. Dozono’s campaign was tough to watch. I’m not thrilled about Adams, but I’ll take him over Dozono and thank my lucky stars there won’t be a runoff.

Nick Fish also looks to have avoided a runoff for council seat #2, with 61.79% to Jim Middaugh’s 21.31%.

Seat #1 has always been about second place, with Amanda Fritz expected to take a plurality (though hoping for an outright majority). Indeed, she’s got 43.41% now, with the rest of the field bunched up in the 9-12% range.

In second place, Charles Lewis has a narrow lead over John Branam and Jeff Bissonnette, with Mike Fahey and Chris Smith taking up the rear. (I called this race all wrong at the outset, predicting a Fritz-Smith runoff, but Smith hasn’t even garnered 10%. I feel bad for having been so tough on him.)

Here’s the field for seat #1 as of Multnomah County’s update #3 at 9:45:

           John Branam.  .  .      13,154   11.93
           Jeff Bissonnette .      12,934   11.73
           Chris Smith.  .  .      10,392    9.43
           Mike Fahey .  .  .      11,683   10.60
           Amanda Fritz  .  .      47,846   43.41
           Charles Lewis .  .      13,770   12.49
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .         451     .41

I have no idea how many more ballots are left to count, so it’s hard to know if Branam or Bissonnette can close the vote gap to overtake Lewis.