If talk show host Conan O’Brien invented the “strike beard,” then perhaps Sen. Tom Coburn thought up the “lame-duck goatee.”

An HOH spy eyed the Oklahoma Republican sporting a thick thatch of facial hair in the Senate last week. And Coburn’s new mane was clearly visible during a Wednesday appearance on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” where it appeared the good doctor was in the midst of growing a full beard — although the goatee part seemed thicker than the rest of his facial hair.

No word on why Coburn is rocking the new look. His office didn’t return our call by press time. But HOH notes that he did the same thing last fall, when a spokesman said he was growing a beard to prepare for cool weather.