Oregon Public Broadcasting

The big story of 2008 was last month’s historic election -- the one that gave the presidency to an African American for the first time, and gave Democrats the leadership of both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government.

Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith summed it up nicely in his Pendleton home when he conceded his loss in a tight race for the U.S. Senate.

Gordon Smith: "It was just a tide that was too strong to swim against.  I think in any other election cycle I would have been fine."

The tide brought a victory to Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley, and now the entire Pacific coast has Democratic representation in the Senate. 

To look back at the 2008 political view from here is OPB’s analytical team, Bill Lunch and Robert Eisinger. They spoke with OPB’s Geoff Norcross.