It's always interesting to see the mau-mauing done by politicians who are clearly running for reelection but nevertheless want to appear undecided on the matter. Prime example: Oregon's governor Ted Kulongoski. The AP's Charles E. Beggs has the story:

Gov. Ted Kulongoski is planning on running for a second term, a key adviser, Peter Bragdon, said.

There have been rumors that the Democrat might choose against running for re-election in 2006 because he has not said with certainty that he will. But all the signs point to Kulongoski as a candidate.

He has formed a political committee called Kulongoski for Governor 2006 that's raising money for a campaign.

It's overseen by Bragdon, who was Kulongoski's chief of staff until mid-2004.

Bragdon said Kulongoski was making re-election plans as early as last summer, when Bragdon left the governor's office to return to private business.

"When I walked out the door, he asked me to take the lead in pulling together his operation" for a campaign, Bragdon said.

Kulongoski has recruited a campaign manager -- Paige Richardson, director of John Kerry's presidential campaign in Oregon last year. She managed the campaign of Bev Stein, who ran for governor against Kulongoski in the 2002 Democratic primary.

Kulongoski has not yet said whether he's going to run.

It's relatively clear Governor Kulongoski will seek another term even though he "has not yet said whether he's going to run." He'll be tough to knock off either in a primary or a general election because although he hasn't passed any landmark bills, he also hasn't done much to offend the electorate. It won't be a cakewalk, but it shouldn't be the toughest race in the nation either.