The Electoral Map

Poblano at FiveThirtyEight.com has a great post about the electoral dynamics in the Land of Nike, a place where Prius-driving liberals mix with conservative, blue collar ax men.

“The liberals in Oregon are as liberal as any in the country, whereas the conservatives are as conservative as any in the country,” Poblono explains. “This is how you wind up with the weird political soup wherein Oregon has decriminalized marijuana but has also passed a gay marriage ban, or how it allows assisted suicide but also has one of the nation’s lowest effective tax rates.”

Expect Barack Obama to cruise to an easy victory here in the Democratic primary. But don’t expect the general to be as easy for him in a state that as recently as 1996 gave the Democratic nominee only 47%.