Southwestern Oregon (and Del Norte, CA)

[memphis]

Why didn't Obama win in Southern coastal Oregon. He dominated everywhere on the West Coast, almost winning the OC even.

[Alcon]

Every single coastal county down the line has its own unique identity.  They can't really be treated as a continuous entity.  Obama won almost all of them -- but he won them for vastly different reasons.

Obama actually came relatively close in the coastal parts of Douglas County, Oregon, and may have won them.

Coos County, Oregon, is old Democratic territory pushed toward the GOP by environmental issues in the 1990s.  Look at Dukakis vs. Clinton '92, even.  But yet again, it wasn't the coastal areas.  Obama carried the coastal communities of Bandon, North Bend and Coos Bay.  His loss was due to the inland communities of Lakeside, Coquille and especially Myrtle Point.

Admittedly I don't know much about Curry County, Oregon.  I will say that, like Tillamook County, agricultural areas out west battle it out with moderate tourism.  But Curry County has the added factor of logging remaining a significant industry.  Tourism is also less of an active force; coastal Tillamook County is extremely Democratic for it (and the kind of people who move to seaside tourist towns), much like Lincoln County's.  I'm interested to see precinct results from Curry; I've never seen any.

Ditto Del Norte County, California, except it has a smaller tourism industry.  I'm a little surprised that Obama didn't come closer in both Del Norte and Curry.  Del Norte especially is poor and government-reliant.

There's something else going on in Del Norte County:  It's 55% male and over a quarter of those (twice the female rate) are Census-categorized in "public administration."  No idea what that is about.  It's something.

[minionofmidas]

Do prisoners count as "public administration"? Pelican Bay

[Nym90]

Do prisoners count as "public administration"? Pelican Bay

No, but prison guards might. Would explain the male dominance of the county, too.

[ottermax]

I've driven through Del Norte County and there were lots of trailer homes from my view from highway 101, very odd considering the scenic beauty along the rest of the route further south. It doesn't have a tourism dependent economy like Humbouldt I'm guessing even though part of the Redwoods are in Del Norte. Most visitors stay in Eureka (which is also a hippie-ish town). Mendocino is pot country, and further south is the Bay Area.

I believe Curry County has a large retiree community; they always seem to have the highest temps in the Pacific NW during the winter (It was like 55F during our cold snap when it was like 25F in Seattle).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, they should move the poor people out. They spoil the view.

[memphis]

After giving the matter some thought, I'm deciding that it is because this is the only area on the West Coast that's far away from major population centers.  The rest of the West Coast is at least vaguely near LA, Bay Area, Portland, or Seattle. I also found this on wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Jefferson