Smithopedia?

State senators don't typically get very long Wikipedia entries.

Until two months ago, Sen. Fred Smith's bio on the collaborative encylopedia was a scant 50 or so words, listing his name, party and district.

But on March 28, it suddenly expanded to 300 words.

The new biography reads like a press release from the Smith campaign. In fact, a few sentences are lifted directly from a bio his campaign handed out at the kickoff of his gubernatorial campaign:

The principles that have guided Fred Smith are grounded in his parent's strong influence and his childhood experiences growing up at the Methodist Orphanage in Raleigh, NC.

That observation and an epigrammatic quote about how he's "not a politician" will probably not survive under the encyclopedia's "neutral point of view" standard.

The revised entry will no doubt soon be edited to look more like campaign rival Bob Orr's page, and someone will no doubt take care of Bill Graham, whose page appears to have been deleted.