I think by any stretch of one's imagination, John Kerry's travels through Oregon today have been immensely successful.  Although I don't think that Oregon is a battleground state in the traditional sense of the term (as I write here), I do believe that Kerry went far today in ensuring that the state, which heavily leans Democratic, will cast its 7 electoral votes in his column this year.

John Kerry began his Oregon sojourn today in Springfield, just outside of Eugune.  Joined by progressive Congressman Peter DeFazio and scores of voters, the Democratic nominee spoke at a neighborhood gathering this morning, adding a timely new piece to his usual stump speech.

With the CBO report coming out today indicating that the Bush Administration's tax policies have shifted the burden from the ultra-rich to the middle class, John Kerry once again pledged to cut middle class taxes and return taxes on the rich to the levels at which they stood during the Clinton Administration.  Watching Kerry use this line later in the day in Portland, I must say that the reaction was unbelievable (the crowd booed quite loudly when Kerry said that "over the last four years, the burden of taxes has shifted from the wealthy to the middle class... The middle class is paying more taxes."

Kerry proceeded north along the I-5 corridor up to Portland, where he was greeted by upwards of 35,000 at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.  President Bush was also in the Portland area giving a speech in front of about a thousand supportes at nearly the same time.  As a result, "Teresa Heinz Kerry gave a lengthy introduction until Bush wound up his speech. The major network affliates in Portland stuck with Bush until Kerry himself took the microphone."

Once Kerry took the mic following the culmination of the Bush speech a few miles away, the candidate wowed the enormous crowd.  Giving a particularly passioned permutation of his traditional stump speech, Kerry interspersed a few jabs at the President, while always remaining optimistic about America and his plans for the country.  The crowd was equally excited when "Kerry said he was looking forward to windsurfing in the Columbia River Gorge this Saturday, after his campaign visit."  The Gorge, of course, is one of Oregon's key tourist attractions and one of the world's premier venues for the sport.

I was briefly downtown this morning as I had planned on attending the rally at the Waterfront, though I was not keen on being among a sea of 35,000 screaming progressives (and I had seen Kerry a few months ago at his last visit and was able to press some flesh them).  As a result, I headed back to my house to watch the speech on TV.  Luckily for the Bush supporters, they were not faced with the dilemma as only about 1,000 mostly wealthy supporters showed up to the President's forum, though they were greeted by about 200 protesters.  To me, the 35:1 ratio of supporters means much more than anything either candidate might have said on this sunny afternoon.

Such a means of judging support--like the fact that Kerry bumperstickers in the area are much more prevalent than Bush bumperstickers--is merely anecdotal.  However, when you combine this evidence with all of the recent polling in Oregon suggesting a Kerry lead of 4-8 points in the state (Rasmussen, Zogby and ARG), I think it becomes abundantly clear that John Kerry's situation in the Beaver State is looking great.  After the media cycle digests his two events, plus his windsurfing tomorrow, I think we should expect to see Oregon solidly in the Kerry column for the duration of the election.