Oregon Leans Democratic But Won't Be Won for Obama Without a Fight

ByABC News
September 14, 2008, 10:27 AM

— -- Oregon's seven electoral votes lean blue in the November general election, but it doesn't mean the Beaver State will be won for the Democrats without a battle.

Oregon was consistently red till 1988 when it started leaning left. In 2004, Sen. John Kerry won Oregon by just 4 percentage points; in 2000, Vice President Al Gore took the state by 7,000 votes.

Sen. John McCain has focused efforts on the state's small towns, hoping to draw support from pockets with conservative and blue-collar voters. Sen. Barack Obama used the prolonged Democratic primary process to build strength in the northwestern state, campaigning there until late May and drawing a crowd of some-75,000 when he spoke in Portland ahead of the state's primary.