Oregon Public Broadcasting

Barack Obama is expected to announce his running mate any day now.  The Illinois Senator is on track to accept the Democratic Presidential nomination next week in Denver.  

Meanwhile, his campaign is gearing up in the Northwest.  In Oregon, the Obama campaign is trying to register 100,000 new Democrats.

Obama’s Oregon campaign director Rob Hill says another priority is to carefully train hundreds of volunteer campaign workers.

Rob Hill:  “They’re learning our talking points, they’re going through message trainings with people and they’re doing things like monitoring the media, things like that for us.”

Oregon has favored the Democratic candidate in every Presidential election since 1988.  The state’s measly seven electoral votes make it unlikely to become a campaign battleground.

Republican advertising in Oregon has mostly been focused on getting U.S. Senator Gordon Smith re-elected.