Sound Politics: It's Easy To Confuse Oregon And Washington

November 18, 2011

It's Easy To Confuse Oregon And Washington

And a map with the article mislabeled, in some editions, the state in the upper left corner of the contiguous United States that is considered solidly Democratic. It is Washington, not Oregon. (Though the outcome of some races may be in doubt, one thing is for certain: Oregon will always be solidly under Washington.)

(To be precise the state was labeled "Ore.", not "Oregon".)

I blame Timothy Egan.

Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.

(Would I consider the state "solidly Democratic"? No. Republicans hold four of the nine House seats, and their top statewide vote getter, Attorney General Rob McKenna, has run ahead of Democrats like Governor Chris Gregoire in recent elections. For example, in 2008, a Democratic year, he was re-elected, 59-41, while she was re-elected, by a narrower margin, 53-47.

Washington state leans Democratic, but is not, in my opinion, solidly Democratic.)

Posted by Jim Miller at November 18, 2011 02:28 PM | Email This

Comments

1. I'd say that Western Washington if definitely solidly Democratic. All one has to do (generally)to be elected to office in Western Washington is to have a "D" behind his or her name.

Posted by: Politically Incorrest on November 18, 2011 02:50 PM

2. The Puget Sound region is solidly Dimocratic. Most of the rest of the state is made up of normal people.

Posted by: Saltherring on November 18, 2011 03:10 PM

3. As long as we're still one of the 57, no harm, no foul.

Posted by: Seabecker on November 18, 2011 03:41 PM

4. #3 Right On! As long as they don't confuse our UW football team with the Ducks...Oh, well let me possibly reconsider that... :)

Posted by: Duffman on November 18, 2011 04:04 PM

5. Well, if the "smartest guy in the room" can get the US state he's speaking in confused with an entirely other continent, I'd say they're in pretty good shape at the old Gray lady. By the way, how much have we heard about this in the news? If it were Bush, he'd have been a dottering buffoon, but alas, once more, Buh-rack Obom-uh gets yet another pass in the collossal gaffes dept.

Posted by: Rick D. on November 18, 2011 04:06 PM

6. Funny, I live in the 39th District, which spans much of Puget Sound, and it's all Republican. The 10th is mostly Republican. Somewhat recently, the Snohomish County Council was mostly Republican.

Posted by: pudge on November 18, 2011 04:23 PM

7. The NYT probably hasn't paid much attention to us since we were part of Oregon Territory. That's probably what they were thinking...

Posted by: SouthernRoots on November 18, 2011 05:28 PM

8. "Washington state leans Democratic, but is not, in my opinion, solidly Democratic."

Does understanding the context of the map, Battle for the Senate A New York Times analysis of the 33 Senate seats up for election in 2012 inform your opinion?

Do you really think a candidate nobody knows or has heard of will beat Maria Cantwell?
I don't.

And I don't think the other Republican office holders nor 2012 Republican candidates in Washington is going to change that one iota.

The number of people who even know a Republican running for Cantwell's seat is below 5%.

Jim, if you know a Republican candidate or candidates that might beat the Democratic Senator, it is funny you could not even give a GOP WA Senate candidate a plug here.

I think that the state of Washington is solidly Democratic in the 2012 Senate elections, and there's not a snowball's chance in hades a Republican wins Senator Cantwell's seat in 2012.

Posted by: MikeBoyScout on November 18, 2011 05:46 PM

9. @8: Yeah, just about to repeat that. Seems like Jim just didn't bother to look at the actual article or map.

Posted by: demo kid on November 18, 2011 07:12 PM

10. if one listens to Jim Morrison, "we have the numbers" then it doesn't matter if the state is 'solidly democratic'. The majority rules and the rest of the state can catch up or stay stagnated.

Posted by: Desmond Duffney on November 18, 2011 08:43 PM

11. #1....If Western Washington includes Clark County, which I think it should....WW is not solid Dem.

Posted by: Susu on November 18, 2011 10:13 PM

12. I asked a similar question but now I believe that its not going to happen but supposedly it supposed to strike March 19th today due to the Super Moon but the guy who made the hypothesis said it could be between March 19th - 26th...

Posted by: Radialabs on November 19, 2011 02:56 AM

13. Let's be real here for a moment - this State is solidly Democratic. The GOP is hoping like crazy that the RINO McKenna will be moderate enough to break the D stranglehold on the governor's mansion, but I don't think it'll happen. By whatever means necessary, the D's will retain the governor's mansion. Doesn't matter how many ballots they have to find in the basement or in Ron Sims garage.

As for Cantwell, we may as well start calling her Cantlose given the insignificant opponents that the GOP has been able to muster thus far. There's nothing I'd like better than to bring her home from DC, but if I had to put money on it I'd be betting on her winning term #3.

Posted by: Kato on November 19, 2011 09:31 AM

14. MBS & DK - so keep electing Dhimmowhits over and over again, what has that done for WA state?

Posted by: SmoledMan on November 19, 2011 11:09 AM

15. @14 SmoledMan on November 19, 2011 11:09 AM,

What's the name of a Republican candidate for Cantwell's US Senate seat in 2012?

Posted by: MikeBoyScout on November 19, 2011 11:53 AM

16. MBS - Rob McKenna?

Posted by: SmoledMan on November 19, 2011 12:19 PM

17. @16 SmoledMan on November 19, 2011 12:19 PM,

It may surprise you, but Rob McKenna will not vote for Rob McKenna for the US Senate in 2012. If he won't, why would anyone else?

Posted by: MikeBoyScout on November 19, 2011 12:30 PM

18. @14: MBS & DK - so keep electing Dhimmowhits over and over again, what has that done for WA state?

Obviously, a senator from the minority party would make much less difference, but which would you prefer -- a senator that is more senior than 2/3rds of the chamber and is a member of the majority party, or a freshman senator that would be pretty much at the bottom of the barrel?

And given that McKenna is looking at the governor's mansion and Dino Rossi is unlikely to want to add to his losing streak, where precisely will the Republicans dig up a candidate?

Posted by: demo kid on November 19, 2011 08:23 PM

19. In college football, the Oregon State Beavers and Oregon Ducks both defeated UW and Wazzu this year. That may be downright confusing to some, but as an Oregonian - I'll take it...

Posted by: KDS on November 21, 2011 04:50 PM

20. @18 - A GOP governor would be preferred over a GOP Senator - McKenna has a good shot at it.

There's a good chance the GOP will have the majority in the Senate after next year, so reelecting Cant-do-well would not such a big deal. Stick a fork in Rossi...

Posted by: KDS on November 21, 2011 09:02 PM

21. Pierce County Council has seven districts and has had a 5 -2 GOP majority since 2009.

Posted by: Dick Muri on November 22, 2011 11:35 AM

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Posted by: webmail on November 25, 2011 12:51 AM