Oregon's Political Map Tilts Blue

By Ethan Lindsey | Nov. 6, 2008 4:44 p.m. | Updated: June 17, 2010 midnight | Portland, OR

If you were to look at a political map of Oregon today, it remains a sea of red with a few, scattered blocks of blue. It's just that the high population centers tilt the votes to the left. Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.
Two of every three counties in the state voted for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.And yet, every single Oregon county lodged more votes for the Democratic presidential ticket this year than in 2004.In Jackson County, president-elect Barack Obama trails by just 200 votes.In Deschutes County, McCain is holding on to the lead by the barest of margins -- 300 votes out of 80,000.That’s an incredible shift from four years ago, says Democrat Judy Stiegler.Stiegler: “I think you’ve seen a chinking away of a lot of the old, what’s held here for the last couple of decades, the domination by the Republican Party. My sense is that it will shift more blue – and I’ve very comfortable with a purple, shading to a bit of a blue.”In 2004, Stiegler lost a neck-in-neck race to Republican Chuck Burley for state representative.But after the rural county’s blue shift, she will now be traveling to work in Salem – she defeated Burley in a rematch this year by a 53 to 46 percent margin.

© 2008 OPB

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