Sen. Hillary Clinton is hosting a health care roundtable discussion at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, just minutes after Sen. Barack Obama wrapped up a speech at a Beaverton high-tech workplace this morning.
Oregon is the center of the political universe today as the dueling campaigns to represent the Democratic Party in the presidential race cross paths.
Both candidates made motorcade passes just blocks apart through downtown Portland as they headed for their campaign events, snarling traffic and thrilling passers-by.
In Beaverton, Obama spoke of his competitor in the tightly contested race to face the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain:
"Until I'm the nominee, I don't want to speculate on running mates. I have not won this nomination yet. I think it would be presumptuous of me to suggest that she's going to be my running mate when we're still actively running. We do not have this nomination locked up.
"She's going to do very well in West Virginia and Kentucky. She will win those states in all likelihood by significant margins. We feel we have a significant shot here in Oregon."
Obama went on to praise Clinton in an apparent effort to ease the rifts of the fierce campaign and perhaps lay a foundation for the battle for the White House.
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Clinton's Thursday night rally in the Olsrud Pavilion, a 20,000-square-foot arena usually home to livestock sales, boxing exhibitions and farm equipment expos, was to feature a question-and-answer session between Rogue Valley residents and the New York senator. But because of the late hour, Clinton offered to stick around to shake hands and answer people's questions after speaking.
"It's been 40 years since Oregon had a primary this important or this exciting."
In her efforts to sway voters, Clinton has tailored her message to issues she hopes resonate with rural Oregonians, specifically the economy, forest health and an expired federal timber payment program that once funneled $23 million a year to Jackson County programs.
Clinton supports renewing a payment program passed in 2000 that replaced Oregon counties' share of declining federal timber sales.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/05/candidates.html