During Barack Obama's North Carolina victory speech two weeks ago, I couldn't help but notice the complexion of those chosen to sit behind Obama as he spoke: it was a sea of white faces. The message being, of course, that despite what the media is telling you, Obama does not have a white voter problem. One suspects that's at least partially behind his choice of where he'll be speaking after his expected Oregon victory tonight:
Sen. Hillary Clinton will spend Tuesday night in Kentucky to celebrate what's expected to be a big win in that state's primary. But Sen. Barack Obama won't be in Oregon, even though he's favored to win that state's contest Tuesday.The Illinois senator will appear at a rally in Iowa, where he kicked off the primary season with a January 3 caucus win -- a victory that helped propel him to Democratic front-runner status.
Yes, Iowa, the state that put Obama on the map as it were, and, perhaps more importantly, proved that he can win among white voters. Expect that to be the message out of tonight, driven both by his choice of Iowa as a venue from which to speak to supporters, but also by the actual results from tonight's Oregon primary. As Jeff at Blue Oregon notes, Oregon isn't exactly a paragon of diversity itself, nor is it, for the most part, a terribly wealthy state.
Enter Oregon. Forget the People's Republic of Portland--the Beaver State is plenty hardscrabble. Obama_waterfront Our median income is nearly $2,000 below the national average, our per-capita income is lower than the national average, we have more people in poverty, and we regularly have higher unemployment. And of course, we're bone white--90.5%, tenth whitest in the nation. Come tomorrow night, Obama will have notched another primary thanks to the broad support of whites, and pundits will be reminded that Obama did well with that demographic in Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
I think Jeff's right to conclude that
Oregon's central role in this election won't be putting Obama over the 50%-mark in pledged delegates (though we probably will do that). Rather, it's in reminding everyone that his broad base of support includes whites and poorer voters.
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