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

By
NITYA VENKATARAMAN
September 14, 2008, 10:27 AM ET
1 min read

— -- 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.

Obama won Oregon in a double-digit victory during the Democratic primary, beating Sen. Hillary Clinton by 18 percentage points.

The state's Republican incumbent senator, Gordon Smith, faces a tough re-election battle and debuted June advertising touting his work with Obama on tougher mileage standards and the environment.Check back to see when ABC News heads to Oregon!