Bush, Kerry stir up Stumptown

• Presidential campaigns turning up the heat on Oregon voters

By Don Hamilton

The Portland Tribune, Aug 17, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry look ready to go to war over Oregon this year.

The presidential contenders brought their A game to the state last week. Both generated tremendous excitement among supporters, both pulled all the political levers they could, and both saw how far the other will go in trying to win Oregon in the 11 weeks remaining in the campaign.

President Bush brought the promise of jobs in the $15 million he pledged for deepening the Columbia River channel, a signal that he’s willing to spread around some federal money, especially when it spurs private investment, a classic tactic available only to the incumbent.

Kerry, meanwhile, attracted 50,000 people to the Portland waterfront in what may well have been the largest political rally ever in Oregon. The crowd’s size and enthusiasm signaled an unusually deep commitment for a Democratic Party that’s often divided.

Both candidates are concentrating on states expected to be close. That means Oregon, narrowly won by the Democrats in 2000, should expect both of them back, a rare level of attention for a state that offers a paltry seven electoral votes. President Bush has been here four times since taking office and Kerry three since May.

That may pale compared to the 20-plus visits to big electoral states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, but it’s still more attention than Oregon’s used to.

Their visits in the weeks ahead will offer a barometer on what the polls are saying. If Kerry’s narrow lead in the polls shrinks, expect more campaign appearances, said Jim Moore, an independent political analyst and assistant professor of political science at Pacific University. But if the candidates stop showing up, it may mean one or the other has a lead so wide that the two hopefuls ignore Oregon and turn their attention to more competitive states.

“We’ll know which states are close by which states they visit,” Moore said.

The intensity of their competition spilled over into a fight for the attention of live local television. Local stations found themselves jumping from one to the other and using split screens during the 16 minutes that both Kerry and Bush were speaking.

Bush started speaking at 12:30 p.m. in front of 2,300 wildly cheering supporters at Southridge High School in Beaverton, his remarks carried live on local television. At that point, Kerry hadn’t yet arrived at his downtown Portland rally. At 1:05 p.m., when Kerry finally took the stage along the river, Bush was still talking.

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