Is Obama lying about the Northwest?

The New York Times is reporting that Oregon will be a “battleground state” in the expected presidential match-up this fall between John McClone (that’s not a typo) and Barack Obama.

First of all, forget the “battleground” hype. The battlegrounds of importance in this election are in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here at home, we desperately need to lower the political/journalistic rhetoric about the campaign.

What we have is an election, not a war.

Let’s presume that “battleground” means that both sides believe they have a chance of winning in 14 up-for-grabs states.

If this state is a toss-up, then somebody is blowing smoke. Oregon is big-time Blue. You can take it to the bank. A slam-dunk. Put it in the freezer. Like a rock for the Ds.

Got that? (It’s proof are plenty of non-war metaphors available)

The only way Oregon is going for McClone is if Obama chooses Jeremiah Wright as his running mate — or Hillary Clinton.

Geez, if the campaign strategists can have this one so wrong, what about all those other “battleground” states? Do they think the voters have been sleeping through the Bush years?

Maybe the Obama people just don’t want us to get all cocky here in the upper left-hand corner. Amazingly, the campaigns also include Washington on the “battleground” list.

What kind of rubes do they take us to be?

Come to think of it, if the Obama folks are so out of touch with us, maybe McClone and the Bushites behind him have a chance here after all. Why else would they think they had a chance?

How’s this for a headline and lead?

McCain claims Obama is lying
about Pacific Northwest
being a toss-up

John McCain told a Portland audience today that Northwesterners are being duped by an Obama campaign that purports McCain has a change of winning in the region.

“I’m here to give you some straight talk," McCain told a unenthusiastic crowd of five in Pioneer Courthouse Square. "My opponent is lying to you, and we know you are still going to vote for him! We don’t have a prayer here.”

The speech was seen as a new tactic in the beleaguered Republican's presidential campaign. McCain campaign aides said the strategy is to bolster McCain’s underdog status and to win the sympathy vote.

An Obama spokesman responded that the Illinois senator really does believe that the two states are up for grabs. “There are a lot of really stupid people here who cling to the Bush recession, the war and $4/gallon gas prices. Don’t ask us why, but that’s what the polls show. It could be mindless nostalgia, a batch of bad IPA, tainted salmon or Hanford radiation seeping into the groundwater."

"Whatever. . . ,” he added.