Lane Cty is very rat dominated:
Obozo got 95,143 votes or 59.63%
Romney got 58,629 votes or 36.75%
I have a friend, who moved up from Orange county after he retired to be near his daughter and lives a little west of Eugene. He could have been a concert pianist and his wife is a good artist. So at first they were welcomed into the elite college oriented artsy/fartsy crowd.
When the elite rat artsy/fartsy scum find out that he worked for an evil corporation until retirement, and he is a card carrying Republican, they get shunned like a bad Amish.
His wife, daughter and SIL have banned him from even mentioning that he is a republican.
His truck and car were keyed and egged in the 2008 election because he had McCain stickers on them.
We talk on the phone about twice a month, and he jokes that he needs to pay me as his shrink.
I can see where that would happen. I am a member of a co-op gallery. I am a Southerner and not a big fan of the Republican party (though I am very conservative). I haven’t engaged in much discussion, nor do most of the gallery members. They generally make the assumption that you agree with progressive/liberal ideas...and most of them do! I am always polite and civil. There is perhaps one other (out of a couple dozen) who is an actual Republican. Perhaps as a Libertarian, I am viewed as harmless or silly. I don’t know! I don’t worry about it a lot.
My husband is retired military. No one has been mean to me about that and they all know. It was on my application and they voted me in.
It is wise to not engage in discussions if at all possible in that environment. I was drawn in with one person who is very much an activist, but she not inflammatory or mean and we do agree on a few things.
I get in more trouble talking about football (Roll Tide!) than politics.