Can one city really make that much of a difference?
 

I knew Portland was a liberal city, but I never really knew how it compared to the rest of the state.

"Still, in delving into the statistics, it becomes apparent that without Portland in the mix, the suburbs and the rest of Oregon would be a red state, not blue."

From the Portland Tribune

http://www.pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-new...al-is-portland

It is not the city but how many people live in it...if they all vote blue and they outnumber the rest of the state then they will be in the majority.


I think no one voted for Romney in some of the Philadelphia districts in 2012, which made Paul Ryan opine that he would have won had it not been for the urban areas of the nation.
No shit Ryan duh!

if voter suppression does not work look for some red states to try and take away one man one vote so that one candidate does not collect all of a states' electoral votes in a winner take all system....

they will try proportional electoral votes weighted by pluralities....and then try to put in some nefarious schemes to make rural counties weigh more in the final tally. Sort of like a parliamentary system of awarding delegates...

then the baggers may win....boooooooooooooooooooo!!

This is nothing new or unique. Urban areas, especially large ones, are usually liberal and rural areas conservative. Even here in the PRC, the LA, SF, San Jose and Oakland areas are liberal and the Central Valley is pretty far right.

In Oregon you have not only Portland but also Eugene and Salem that are pretty liberal. Grant's Pass is probably red though and Ashland too but they're pretty small cities. Don't know about Medford.

John

I think it's the city too. For starters, cities are where cultural and educational areas tend to be located. (Can you think of a museum, symphony hall or major university that's located in the middle of nowhere.) This make cities and the near suburbs magnets for intellectuals. The other side of the urban coin is grinding poverty among many of the people there. The record of liberals as social reformers makes these poor city-dwellers a more or less natural constituency for liberal politicians.

John

PS: yes, I am saying that, for the most part, intellectuals and educated people tend to be liberal.

Are you saying that science has a liberal bent? :)

No it is just that people with brains enough to be scientists have a liberal bent.:)

It's the colleges' liberal agenda at work ;)

I know McCain didn't receive a single vote in some Cleveland districts.

Pete

Yep, barren land doesn't have many voters.

If only the deer and elk could vote.

Patty keeps wanting to move to Portlandia, I suspect that I would be considered a traitor to the liberal cause in that town. I like to kill steelhead and eat 'em. ;)

Ironic...I lean a bit more conservative but I don't care for (or to) fish much.

Nah, those lefties up there are totally cool with eating fish. It's red meat that gives them the willies. FWIW, my sister & husband and her two married children with their families live in Portland. They love it (as do I when I visit). I tend to stay away from there from November through May though. My gills aren't developed enough.;)

I was born with fully formed gills and webbed feet. In all honesty though, if it wasn't for the fact I work in a niche market and would have a hard time finding a similar job elsewhere I would pack up the wife and life and move to a more hospitable climate (weather wise anyway).

I've never been much for drowning worms either, odd for someone who grew up around water. Now, crabbing? That's something totally different.

John

Not a big crab fan either....itchy little bastards.

Stay put. That more hospitable climate just might come to you. We've pretty much lost our wet season and we're only 600 miles from Portland and on the same side of the mountains.

John

:D

I don't really like these West Coast dungeness crabs much. They're pretty meaty and all but the flavor just doesn't come up to the Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

And you want a true delicacy? Try a soft shell crab sandwich!

John

I used to spend summers just east of you. My grandparents lived in Citrus Heights, just outside of Sacramento. I enjoyed it years ago, but have no real desire to go to Cali anymore. My wife is a SoCal girl. She doesn't take the weather up here well, but she loves me so she hangs around anyway.

OK screw Portland. I'm gonna go live in Grant's Pass with all the rednecks. :p

When Chuk (my avatar), the rest of the dogs and I were racing, I used to try to make it to Grant's Pass for the first leg of the trip to Portland, Estacada, Beavercreek or BC. It's really beautiful up there but it's a little like West Virginia if you substitute trees for coal. ;)

John

Yeah, not that far but pretty different geography and climate. That's basically the Sierra foothills, getting toward gold country. I'm in wine country here, maybe 20 miles from the ocean.

John

Some good wine country up here too. I have always liked the pic on the homepage of the Willamette Valley Vineyards.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...hat/home-1.jpg

Yup! What, about 20 miles south of Portland? I used to drive through there.

I've heard it said that climate change is going to make things better for your wine and worse for ours. Oh, well!

John

There is a terrorist cat lurking around in Portland. This is a hilarious story.

http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/ol...6172eb8a57.jpg

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...dued_by_p.html

I used to be a part time resident of Portland from 2000 till late last year and I don't know if I would want to live there full time. Too slow paced but now I am really beginning to like Ashland a lot. Probably slower lifestyle too but the CA border is just 20 miles away.:)

I can't believe the cat story went national. Most of the liberal folk I know like being closer to the Washington border than California.

I can't believe the cat owners couldn't get the upper hand on that cat!

Barbara there is a saying thatgoes something like thiis;


"The man who has an angry cat by the tail is receiving more education than his mind can absorb."

Used to own a 19 pound Russiam Blue who fortunately was quite friendly.

Ha! I love the saying!

We once had a cat who was quite mean by nature although, he was not all that big. But in our house, humans rule. ;)

Heard that the terror cat story hit the local AM radio stations. As to WA vs. CA borders, it's the weather.

...and on the inverse side of that, pot is legal in Washington.

Yeppers. :cool: There must be headshops lining the roads leading from Portland into Washington.

At some point if you don't treat a cat properly it will either rip open a hole in your leg or just walk out one day, never to be seen again. I think they have considerably more self-respect than dogs.