I look forward to moving back home to Clackamas County and trying to do my part in turning it from its stubbornly Republican (compared to Washington and Multnomah) ways.
Clackamas is a trip, and although I still don't feel like I have a total grasp on it, you have this weird scene where one of the wealthiest cities in Oregon Lake Oswego becoming heavily Democratic in '08 and '12, similar to trends in places like Gladstone and West Linn, and also old blue collar working-class places like Oregon City and Milwaukie....
Even if you adjust out the "rural" parts of the county much of the Republican base these days is actually in fast growing expensive exurban communities like Happy Valley and Damascus, and the Uninc areas around them....
Thinking its more like upper-middle class types that want "more house" and longer commute, since it doesn't appear that Blue Collar types are abandoning the Dem Party in Clack. and there has been Dem growth in wealthy and upper-middle class cities closer to the City.
Thoughts???
Oh, I certainly agree. It's almost like Clark County in that way, I think.
That being said, I feel like Happy Valley has become a little more like Lake Oswego over the past 10 years or so--granola wealthy gradually replacing the typical suburban wealthy.
Do you know how Estacada votes? I lived in Carver for several years (now part of Damascus, but sort of its own entity), and the stretch along 212/224 from 82nd drive all the way out to Estacada always struck me as a pretty typically blue collar Republican stronghold. But this was about 10 years ago now. And the area along Sunnyside and near Clackamas High School just north of there is more suburban-feeling... I dunno, the whole northwestern (populated) part of Clackamas County feels like a mix of very, very different classes, styles, etc. Like you said, you've got Gladstone and West Linn, Oregon City and Milwaukie, Lake Oswego, Happy Valley, Damascus/Boring/Estacada, and even Wilsonville, which is more like Tigard/Tualatin, all packed into a small area, all having their own unique feel to them.
