seattle. 22. female.

As a native Oregonian, I gotta tell ya that it’s damn exciting time for my state.

It’s no wonder so many folks turned out for Senator Barack Obama’s rally speech in Portland on Sunday. In years past, at this point in the election all the major electoral votes are tallied and the two candidates have been chosen months ago. In their obligatory stop, they spend one day campaigning and it’s typically to promote the presidential election and not the primaries.

Therefore I’m pumped that the numbers game hasn’t discounted Oregon yet. Usually our seven electoral votes are discounted come this point in the primaries.

I know how Oregon is perceived. Yes, that hole between Washington and California isn’t solely comprised of tree-huggers. Although I, along with most of Portland favors the left, Oregon isn’t as liberal as people may initially assume.

In 2004, John Kerry won the presidential vote by 51%. However if it weren’t for Portland liberals, Oregon results simply wouldn’t be the same.

In 2000, Al Gore barely beat George W. Bush by a rough 6,700 votes. Interestingly, 77,000 folks voted for Ralph Nader.

These approximated facts go to show that oregon is not just a state of 3.6 million hippies.

Fact be known, there are a lot of rural towns throughout the state. As someone with a family of farmers, rural usually equates to conservative; therefore, when blogs refer to it as “Obama Oregon,” I giggle.

That being said (or written, rather), cheers to my neighbors turning out for Obama’s rally speech on Sunday. The New York Times estimates 77,000 folks braved the sun to support the candidate.