Obama camp goes after unregistered Oregonians

Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) Oregon campaign is focusing its on-the-ground efforts on reaching out to those individuals who are eligible to vote but have not done so, state organizers said on a campaign conference call this morning.

Rob Hill, Obama’s Oregon director, estimated that about 700,000 people had yet to register and indicated the campaign would target those individuals in the coming months. Nine campaign offices had been opened, 500 organizers had been trained around the state, and last week alone the campaign held 45 grassroots events, Hill said.

Speaking on the call, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Portland) predicted Obama’s grassroots presence in the state would help deliver Oregon’s seven electoral votes to the Illinois Democrat come November.

“There is no question there is a lot more excitement in our state for Sen. Obama than there is for Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.),” said Wyden. “Sen. Obama is seen as a huge breath of fresh air.”

Heading into the fall, Obama is widely seen as the favorite in the Beaver State. A Rasmussen survey conducted earlier this month gave Obama a 10-point edge over his Republican rival for the White House. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report and The Pindell Report place the state in the “Leans Democratic” category. Obama defeated primary opponent U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) by a solid 18-point margin in the state’s May primary.

But Hill said the campaign was taking nothing for granted. “Historically, Oregon has been closer than its neighboring states,” he said, noting that Al Gore defeated George Bush by a narrow 7,000-vote margin in the state in 2000.

At the same time, the campaign expressed confidence that its “change” message was resonating with voters.

“We’ll be focusing on the continuation of the last eight years and more of the same” versus Obama’s message of change, noted Wyden.

Hill declined to specify how much the campaign was planning to spend in the state and said he was unsure if the Obama would be campaign in the state again.