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2006-07-14 Home Front: Politix

...That's right. Oregon, where only one of eight statewide elected officials, Sen. Gordon Smith, is a Republican. Oregon, where Democrats have controlled the governor's mansion since 1986 and where every Democratic presidential candidate since then has carried the state.

First state with a bottle bill, first with an all-public coastline, first with an urban growth boundary, first with vote-by-mail, first with physician-assisted suicidethat Oregon is unmistakably losing its Democratic majority, Looper says.

As seismic as such a shift would be, it is a well-kept secret. Reed College political science chairman Paul Gronke was unaware of Democrats' dwindling power. "I'm stunned," Gronke says. "I find that very surprising and something that has not been highlighted by the press at all."

Former state senator and Oregon Republican Party vice-chairwoman Marylin Shannon says Republicans' gathering strength is little recognized even among her party's leaders.

"When I show the data at [Republican] Central Committee meetings, people say, 'I didn't know this,'" says Shannon.

"This" is the fact that, absent major demographic shifts, Republicans are on track to soon outnumber Democrats in Oregon.

In the liberal Portland echo chamber, such a notion might seem absurd. But a Republican-controlled Oregon would probably be an entirely different place on issues ranging from abortion, school funding and the environment to the judiciary and the Legislature...

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-07-14 09:29|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 What's the bottle bill, I've never heard of this one?

My Dad retired out there a couple years back but I've never made the trip. Being fairly libertarian I don't care about the rest of their social policies. Anybody here know what taxes are like up there?

Posted by Broadhead6 2006-07-14 09:43|| 2006-07-14 09:43|| Front Page Top

#2 I always go there to shop. No sales tax, but they do have an income tax. That was a couple of years ago.

Posted by hairofthedawg">hairofthedawg 2006-07-14 09:50|| http://www.wildwoodrugby.com]">[http://www.wildwoodrugby.com] 2006-07-14 09:50|| Front Page Top

#3 Maybe the construction of the wing-nut bureaucracy exposed waste. It is obvious that he public is sick of something. All bad ideas in Oregon, come out of Eugene.

Posted by Anginens Threreng8133 2006-07-14 10:04|| 2006-07-14 10:04|| Front Page Top

#4 Broadhead6, I think it means the deposit you pay on bottled beverages. It's something like 5 cents per, in order to cut down on the amount of them tossed on the highways. Pay it when you get your Coke, then get it back when you bring the bottle in to the store.

Posted by Swamp Blondie 2006-07-14 10:26|| http://azjetsetchick.blogspot.com]">[http://azjetsetchick.blogspot.com] 2006-07-14 10:26|| Front Page Top

#5 Oregon USED TO be the "Leave me the hell alone" state. Even old hippies tired of the in-your-face holier-than-thou crowd in California went north to get way from that crap.

Thats where the push-back is coming from.

Posted by Oldspook 2006-07-14 10:30|| 2006-07-14 10:30|| Front Page Top

#6 They voted against gay marriage.....

Posted by anonymous2u 2006-07-14 11:53|| 2006-07-14 11:53|| Front Page Top

#7 My super-liberal uncle just moved to Oregon. It would be delicious if the state turned Red around him.

Posted by rjschwarz 2006-07-14 12:53|| 2006-07-14 12:53|| Front Page Top

#8 Just how the heck did we wind up with the Red/Blue disignations we have. The first thought I had was that the Stalinist wing of the local CPUSA was on the verge of taking over

Posted by Cheaderhead 2006-07-14 14:01|| 2006-07-14 14:01|| Front Page Top

#9 Just how the heck did we wind up with the Red/Blue disignations we have.

Television election map makers:

The blue force is firendly, the red enemy; blue on blue, etc.

Can't you imagine the sophomore yucks as they pain the trunks the commie color?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-07-14 14:48|| 2006-07-14 14:48|| Front Page Top

#10 I've always felt that the Republicans deserved the color "Red" due to the fact that Reagan was the main man responsible for the bring-down of the Soviet Union (the "Reds"), even though they hit the ground during Bush I.

They'll have a solid lock on the color when they take out Red China.

Let's do it for the Gipper...

Posted by Ptah">Ptah 2006-07-14 15:06|| http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org]">[http://www.crusaderwarcollege.org] 2006-07-14 15:06|| Front Page Top

#11 Oregon has horrible taxes to pay for all of the great services they offer. The liberal Portland folks may be getting sick of their taxes, though I don't know. May also be California people sick of liberal policies moving north.

Idaho is getting an influx of liberal types. Those that don't get out of Boise think that it's fair game for Democrat influence. Hillary is going (or already went) because the new McKlatchy (spelling?) newspapers give the liberals the idea that they have more power than they do. But that's cause they don't leave Boise or Sun Valley or the three other resort areas in the state echo chambers. The whole Eastern half of the state is Mormon, most of the folks are still conservative and the rural areas might think the hunting accident of a fellow attempting to change their independent ways wasn't really all that sad.

In general - I think lots of people are sick of the failed liberal ideas and are looking to move to areas where they can raise a family in a wholesome environment.

Posted by 2b 2006-07-14 20:35|| 2006-07-14 20:35|| Front Page Top

#12 Guys, I've lived in Oregon since 1998. This article is from the Willamette Week, the local "who's in town this week and 'bash-the-fascist-republicans'" rag.

I'd love Oregon to become a Red state, but until proven at the polls, my reaction is snort-chortle-guffaw.

Posted by Kirk 2006-07-14 23:05|| 2006-07-14 23:05|| Front Page Top

06:06 Frank G
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