You've got to hand it to Gordon Smith. One day he's maintaining FIW (finger in the wind) status in Josh Marshall's Social Security Conscience Caucus, the next day he bucks his national leadership on the budget, as The New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports:

Congressional negotiations to break an impasse over the federal budget hit a major stumbling block on Wednesday, when an influential Republican senator walked away from the talks amid a dispute with the White House and the Republican leadership over Medicaid spending.

The senator, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, has told the leadership that he is now prepared to vote against the budget, a spokesman said. The majority leader, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, had hoped to bring the $2.57 trillion budget measure to the Senate floor for a vote on Friday; a spokesman said Wednesday evening he planned to stick to that schedule.

"We intend to go forward," the spokesman, Bob Stevenson, said.

But whether the measure can pass the Senate without Mr. Smith's support is unclear. When the budget came before the Senate last month, Mr. Smith spearheaded a drive to eliminate reductions in the growth of spending on Medicaid, the federal government insurance plan for the poor, and instead to create a commission to study the future of the program. His proposal passed, 52 to 48, drawing support from six other Republicans. [emphasis added]

While it would be nice to see Gordon Smith stand up to his party on privatization of Social Security and especially on the nuclear option, if he is able to help block a GOP budget, he can be credited with:

• Stopping drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve
  
• Preventing the Republicans from driving the country further into debt
  
• Blocking significant cuts to Medicaid, student loans and farming subsidies

Although his voting record shows he's not the most moderate GOP Senator by far, if Gordon Smith blocks the budget, he must win serious respect from progressive community (along the lines of a Linc Chafee, perhaps).