Obama visits 'red' Oregon

Obama visits 'red' Oregon

By Associated Press

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) - Al Gore carried Oregon by a slim margin in 2000 and John Kerry won it by a little more in 2004. In the rolling wheat and cattle country of Pendleton and Umatilla County, President George W. Bush won by a 2-1 margin both times. Many nearby counties came out about the same.

From the vast area east of the Cascade Mountains, which separate Oregon's liberal-leaning population centers from high desert sagebrush and rangeland, only one Democrat sits in Oregon's Legislature.

The region is represented by Oregon's only Republican congressman and is home to the only Republican U.S. senator on the West Coast.

But Democrat Barack Obama was a thunderous hit last night when he addressed a capacity crowd of about 3,500 from several Eastern Oregon counties at the Pendleton Convention Center.

The Illinois senator got an earsplitting cheer as he took the stage.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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