Oregon Public Broadcasting

Former President Bill Clinton toured Oregon Monday, campaigning for his wife in the Democratic primary. Clinton stopped in Portland and Salem, of course. But he also visited a few places you might not expect - Medford and Bend.

When presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was in Oregon last week, he stopped in Medford too.

Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey covered Clinton's campaign stop in Bend and he explains why the Democrats are venturing beyond the Willamette Valley. 

Bill Clinton was originally scheduled to appear at a Medford middle school. But because so many southern Oregonians wanted to see him speak, the campaign moved his appearance to North Medford High School.

3000 people filled the school's gym, where the former president rejected calls for his wife to drop out of the race.

Bill Clinton: “Ladies and Gentleman, this is an amazing election and aren't you glad your votes are going to count.”

Clinton was referring to the surprising relevance of Oregon's late May primary.

But he could very well have been talking about Medford itself.

Normally, Democratic candidates come to Portland, Salem, maybe Eugene, and then leave the rest of the state alone.

But the contested nature of this year's primary has put rural, and non-traditional Democratic voters smack in the middle of the campaign.

Marc Siegel: “There are two reasons for that.”

Marc Siegel is a spokesman for the state Democratic party.

Marc Siegel: “One is that this primary is more competitive than any we've had in Oregon in a very long time. So they're going to take more time here. Secondly, these are growing areas and you have media markets that cover these growing demographics. I know that in Bend they've added a new TV affiliate. And you know, Medford is a very real media market. And they all have easily accessible airports.”

Siegel says the record-amount of money raised by the campaigns also allows for them to travel more.

Pacific University political science professor Jim Moore says Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear in Medford when she comes to the state later this week.

He says Portland's media and TV stations will be covering the event, just like they did for President Clinton and Senator Barack Obama.

Jim Moore: “The media coverage means that you are not just going to one small place, and talking to one small group of people. You are talking to a much larger population and in many cases in Oregon, you are talking to the entire state.”

Bend and Medford's recent growth have also put those cities in the eye of the housing storm.

Obama held a town hall last week at Kids Unlimited, a youth center in Medford, where he talked about the home market.

Barack Obama: “Everybody's going to talk a little bit of a loss. Housing prices are going to dip a little bit. Banks are going to have to take a loss because many of them made loans they shouldn't have. But we have to stabilize that market. That's short term and it has to do with the lack of regulation in the financial markets.”

Bill Clinton talked about housing too, when he was in Bend.

Bill Clinton: “Most of you probably understand this, but basically, this mortgage crisis came about because in the first half of this decade, this government had no job strategy.”

While in Bend, Clinton also met with Wayne Kinney, the state's Democratic national committee representative - and a superdelegate. Kinney said Clinton and he spoke, but just to say 'hi'.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has yet to visit the state.   But many political observers expect he will before the May primary. Not because he needs to hold off any political challengers. But because he doesn't want to cede the media coverage to the two Democrats.