Oregon Demographics Typify Dem Divide

Can Obama reach blue collars? Can Clinton get past them?
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2008 3:47 PM CDT
Oregon Demographics Typify Dem Divide
Tressa Atwood, left and Tristan Linquist (cq) of Eugene, Ore., pose for a self-portrait with a new "Change we can believe in" sign.   (AP Photo/Ryan Gardner)

Oregon’s primary tomorrow finds the Democratic race at its most typical, with Barack Obama hoping to get a bigger slice of the blue-collar vote and Hillary Clinton trying to break further into the white-collar one. The progressive, urban, western part of the state and the rural east have little in common, the Boston Globe reports, and are at odds over the most suitable candidate.

But Obama has the upper hand, as tech industries have replaced manufacturing and logging statewide, and appeals to the salt of the earth find less traction. It's a state to watch in November, too, notes the New York Times. “This used to be what one would say is a Republican stronghold,” said one eastern Oregon grower, “and I don’t think it is anymore.” (More Oregon primary stories.)

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