A basic guide to Oregon and campaign tips

In light of the Presidential campaign's move to the great state of Oregon, I thought that I would provide some guidance (below the jump) on the state as well as how to campaign here.

First, some basics:

Please learn to pronounce the following place names correctly:

Oregon (Ory-gun): Do not pronounce it Ore-gone.
Multnomah (Mult-no-mah): This one is actually pretty easy but still important as most of you will be likely working here (Multnomah County includes the city of Portland).
Willamette (Will-am-ette): Please be sure to include the second pause in this pronounciation.  Too many folks prounce it Will-amette, which is just wrong.

Some basic Portland geography:

The city is divided into five quadrants (N, NE, SE, SW and NW).  East and West are divided by the Willamette River and North and South by a Burnside Ave.  In NW and SW Portland there is largely a grid-system in effect, with streets running north-south numbered and those running east-west named (there are a few exceptions like Broadway is where 7th avenue should be but otherwise this holds).  In NW Portland, the named streets are actually alphabetical (So, for example, Everett follows Davis which follows Couch, pronounced Cooch by the way).  To give you a brief idea of what is in each quadrant, see below:

N: Jantzen Beach, the University of Portland, industrial and residential neighborhoods.
NE: The airport, the Lloyd District (home to Oregon's largest mall), the Rose Quarter (which includes the Arena where the NBA's Blazers play) and the Oregon Convention Center.  However, it is largely residential.
SE: Largely residential but home to some of the coolest neighborhoods in the city such as Hawthorne, Belmont, Brooklyn and East Moreland.
SW: Downtown is largely in SW Portland, including Portland State University, the baseball/football stadium PGE Park as well as Hillsdale and other fun neighborhoods.
NW: The Pearl District and NW 21st/23rd areas for the most part are what you will see.  However, the rest of NW is fully of fun residential areas and parks.

Now some basic Oregon Canvassing Tips:

Dos:

DO state that you are a volunteer, Oregoninans are very used to having political folks come to their doors/talk to them.
DO remind folks that the cost of mailing their ballot will go up 1 cent (to 42 cents) as of next Monday.  However, they can always drop it off at any one of a number of drop boxes and starting May 16 no ballots should be mailed lest they arrive late.
DO dress casually.  Oregon is a casual state, dressing in a suit will not impress most folks.
DO dress for all kinds of weather.  This time of year it could be anywhere from the upper 80s to the low 40s.
DO tell folks that once they've voted you won't bother them anymore.  Trust me, it works.
DO take the time to visit a farmer's market when you're out here.  They're everywhere and quite fun.

Now some Don'ts:

DON'T give anyone a stamp to place on a ballot.  This is considered vote-buying (since you are giving someone a gift of value) and is illegal.
DON'T use an umbrella.  When liquid sunshine (what the rest of the world outside the Pacific NW calls rain) is present, we don't usually use umbrellas.  Instead, we just use Gortex rain coats everywhere.  If you want to be stylish, create a garbage bag poncho.
DON'T complain about the rain.  Its no big deal to us, it shouldn't be to you.
DON'T wear anything with a LA Lakers logo on it (we hate them) or by the same token praise California in any way, shape or form.  We like to blame Californians for many of our problems.
DON'T be surprised by the political knowledge of the average resident.  Most people tend to be pretty well informed, a large part of this is because our local government strongly encourages citizen involvement.
DON'T assume we have no diversity out here.  Portland as a city and Oregon as a whole are quite white but certain parts of the state have large minority populations.  For example, Hillsboro, a suburb west of downtown Portland, has a substantial Hispanic population and there are substantial groups of immigrants from all over the world especially in east Portland (including Russians, Somalis, Afghanis and others).

Tips and recs, as well as additions are most welcome.  Have fun and as former Governor Tom McCall used to say, "We want you to visit our State of Excitement often. Come again and again. But for heaven's sake, don't move here to live. Or if you do have to move in to live, don't tell any of your neighbors where you are going."