Rooting for her boss

Esther Kennedy has a lot of reasons to root for Sen. Gordon Smith to maintain his Oregon seat in Congress -- among other things, she works for him in his Medford office.

But beyond that, she says, he is a nice guy who is loved by his employees. "I've worked for more than 50 years and he's the nicest person I ever worked for," she says. She also noted that the majority of Oregon staff members in regional offices have worked for Smith for the entire 12 years he's been in office.

Esther and her husband Ernest (now-deceased) were longtime friends with former Congressman Bob Smith and Esther worked in his office for about 10 years, managing four of his six election campaigns.

She says Sen. Smith's staff is "concerned, but optimistic" about the outcome of today's race.