Oregon is a tough nut to crack.
It always seems to dangle in front of the GOP, just out of reach.
I believe Washington state is more likely than Oregon, in fact I do believe McCain will carry Washington. Oregon, I’m still not so sure.
Oregon is generally considered more GOP friendly than Washington, but I think that needs to be reevaluated.
Oregon is basically a a giant evergreen forest with a single metropolitan city in the northwestern corner, on the coast and state border. Portland is a city that is hipper than Seattle and more beautiful than San Francisco, and has the politics to match both. There just isn’t much else in that state. Sure there are small towns sprinkled here and there in the trees, but Portland by far is the dominant political factor in the state. Plus immigration to Oregon tends to be either hipsters looking for the next Seattle, or granola eating hippies wanting to be at one with nature.
Washington, on the other hand is moving towards the GOP. This is in part by a bit of an exodus from Seattle as it fades as a destination for coolness, and to a larger degree from the new development boom in the south-eastern part of the state, near Idaho, complete with Idaho values (Larry Craig not withstanding).
“There are small towns sprinkled here and there.”
Uh, have you ever BEEN to Oregon?
Go to Eugene, Springfield or Medford and you’ll see there’s no way those are small towns!
Shoot, even my own town of Grants Pass isn’t really small, having over 30,000 people in the city and far more than that in the county.
Ed
My daughter lives in Coos Bay, Oregon. We took a trip to Portland and I couldn’t believe all the hippies there.
Come out to the eastern 60% of the state and you'll wonder what happened to that giant evergreen forest. Trees=liberal, outback = good Americans