Oregon's second largest newspaper, the Eugene Register-Guard , today endorsed Barack Obama for President in the state's upcoming May 20th primary.
Oregon's is the nation's only entirely vote-by-mail primary; the endorsements come now, ahead of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary and the potentially race-ending May 6th primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, for the reason that ballots in Oregon will be mailed to voters between May 2nd and 6th.
Oregon's is a closed primary. With the potential and unexpected importance this year of Oregon's one-of-the-latest-in-the-nation primary, thousands of previously unregistered, or registered independent Oregonians (including this diarist, as detailed in this rec list diary from March 24th) have been registering and re-registering as Democrats in order to participate in this groundbreaking election.
With its endorsement, the Register-Guard joins the state's largest and the nation's 25th largest newspaper, the Portland Oregonian, which endorsed Senator Obama seemingly eons ago, on February 3rd and just before Super Tuesday.
In its endorsement, the Register-Guard editorial board had these powerful words to say:
...The dispiriting tone of the campaign echoes that of the past several election cycles, in which the voters' divisions over small matters have been exploited for transitory gain, obscuring the need for clarity of purpose in confronting the many large challenges that face the nation. A weariness with wedge politics should lead Democrats to choose not just between two politicians, but between two styles of politics. Voters should grasp the opportunity to open a new chapter - a chapter with a fresh political vocabulary, elevated discourse and rekindled hope.
Obama offers that opportunity, and Oregon Democrats should support him in the May 20 primary election...
...Oregon has a rare moment of relevance in the nominating process. Oregon Democrats should use it to give Barack Obama the chance to become the first Democratic president of the 21st century.
In regards to Senator Clinton, the Register-Guard had this to say:
...she cannot avoid a close association with her husband's presidency and the waste of its potential through self-indulgence and scandal, flaws that helped deliver the White House to George W. Bush in 2000.
Clinton has a well-developed plan for health care reform, but if she sent it to Congress as president, her proposal surely would be examined through the lens of the failed plan she crafted in 1993. Clinton's positions on issues of trade have evolved, but no one would forget that the North American Free Trade Agreement was a product of her husband's adminstration.
Name any issue - from taxes to Cabinet appointments, from public lands management to defense - and the ghosts of the 1990s would be standing over Clinton's shoulder.
These reverberations are amplified by Clinton's own political reflexes, which lead her to perform political triangulations of the type that her husband perfected. Her 2003 (sic) vote to support the war in Iraq - the most consequential vote of Clinton's Senate career - is the most prominent example...
Senator Obama visited Eugene on March 21st, as well-diaried here by fellow Eugenean and Kossack The Great Gatsby. Eugene went nuts for Obama. A capacity crowd of over nine-thousand crammed into tiny Mac Court on the campus of the University of Oregon to hear our next president, while at least that number were left outside.
By comparison, Senator Clinton visited Eugene just fifteen days later, and drew a crowd of 2500 to South Eugene High School. Here is The Great Gatsby again, making national news and the DK rec list with his story of asking Senator Clinton a very pointed question. Check it out!
Oregon has 65 delegates to the national convention up for grabs. Senator Obama is polling very well in Oregon. Polling conducted April 4th to April 6th by Survey USA found Oregonians prefering Obama over Clinton by 52 to 42 percent.
Just as important, the latest Rasmussen poll from March 27th shows Obama leading Senator McCain 48 to 42 percent, and McCain ahead of Senator Clinton 46 to 40 percent.
The last day for Oregon voters to register to vote for the 2008 Primary Election is April 29th. If you live in Oregon, and are not registered, or are registered as an independent and wish, like this diarist, to participate in this all-important primary, click here to register!
(NB: I will post a link to the Register-Guard's editorial endorsement once available online, after 9:00 am PST today)