Oregon Demographics Typify Dem Divide

Oregon’s primary tomorrow finds the Democratic race at its most typical, with Barack Obama hoping to get a bigger slice of the blue-collar vote and Hillary Clinton trying to break further into the white-collar one. The progressive, urban, western part of the state and the rural east have little in common, the Boston Globe reports, and are at odds over the most suitable candidate.

But Obama has the upper hand, as tech industries have replaced manufacturing and logging statewide, and appeals to the salt of the earth find less traction. It's a state to watch in November, too, notes the New York Times. “This used to be what one would say is a Republican stronghold,” said one eastern Oregon grower, “and I don’t think it is anymore.” (More Oregon primary stories.)