Obama And Clinton Campaigning Hard In Oregon

Barack Obama campaigns in Oregon today with an afternoon rally at Portland's waterfront and an evening town hall meeting in Pendleton. Bill and Chelsea Clinton will campaign in Salem and Ashland, Oregon.

The state of Oregon is certainly receiving a lot of attention from the Democratic presidential contenders because it still matters who wins the primary on Tuesday, May 20. Political analysts predict that Obama will win in Oregon and Hillary Clinton will prevail in Kentucky. During campaign stops in Roseburg, Eugene and Salem on Saturday, Barack Obama tried to contrast his health care plan with that of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain: He criticized McCain for not going far enough with his plan of offering a tax credit for working families to purchase health insurance. Obama wants to offer universal health coverage and vows to get American troops out of Iraq much sooner than the Arizona senator. Tucker Bounds, who is a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said that Obama's plan for Iraq doesn't call for victory. He says that McCain would only begin pulling American troops out of Iraq unless they had stability in the country. A transition to a democratic form of government is essential for progress in Iraq. Obama was asked a pointblank question by an X-ray technician by the name of Ron Spooner when he was campaigning at the Sacred Heart Medical Center on Saturday in Eugene, Oregon. He asked, how do I know that I can trust you? Obama replied that he should read one of his books and look at his resume and decide for himself what he has done for the last 20 years. Spooner told Obama that he was trying to decide between him and McCain. He told Obama that he was impressed by him when he wouldn't go along with McCain and Clinton regarding a ''holiday'' for the federal gas tax. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton was campaigning for his wife Hillary at North Clackamas Park in Milwaukie, Oregon. He told a crowd of several hundred people that Hillary was the best and most electable candidate and would fare much better against McCain than Obama. He urged them to ignore the pundits' remarks that Kentucky and Oregon don't matter. ''And he discussed Oregon-specific issues, saying Hillary Clinton is the only candidate to co-sponsor bills that would better regulate liquefied natural gas terminals and that would extend timber payments to rural counties.'' Chelsea Clinton also campaigned in Portland yesterday. She spent about an hour talking to 40 volunteers that are training to be Planned Parenthood activists. Chelsea said that her mother would expand sex education and teen pregnancy programs; make it easier for generic drug companies to get their pills approved by the FDA; nominate pro-choice judges to the U.S. Supreme Court as well as raise taxes on people that make over $250,000 per year. Alicia Viani asked what Hillary would do to counter oppression of women. Chelsea replied that her mother would expand federal health insurance coverage for contraception as well as increase the federal earned income tax credit and food stamps. Chelsea also said that her mother's health care plan covers all Americans while Obama's doesn't do so. However, Viani later stated that she would be voting for Obama because he would be making greater changes on more issues.