James Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat, chairs the House Transportation Committee. He’s been in Congress since 1975.

He usually wins pretty comfortably: 68 percent in 2008, 64 percent in 2006, 65 percent in 2005. His lowest since entering Congress was 59 percent in 1992; he was unopposed in 1976.

My old colleague from many years back, Greg Giroux, noticed Oberstar spent $835,000 in the third quarter of 2010, more than 4 times the roughly $200,000 he spent in the same period last cycle.

I went through to see how much Oberstar is spending on advertising.

Answer: More than $297,000 in the past quarter.

It would seem Republican challenger Chip Cravaack has got Oberstar . . . well, sc-aa-red.

UPDATE: With polls like this, he should be aabsolutely aapoplectic: “A new poll conducted for Cravaack by Public Opinion Strategies shows Oberstar leading Cravaack 45% to 42%.”