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Opinion Why not La Grande?
Why not La Grande?
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A wave of excitement surged through Northeast Oregon recently with the
campaign visits of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Former President
Clinton visited Baker City on Mother’s Day to campaign for his wife,
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. The other leading contender in the
Democratic race for president, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, visited
Pendleton Sunday as the Oregon primary hit the home stretches. We’re delighted that Oregon’s primary vote finally mattered for something in a presidential election. It’s perhaps the first time since 1968 that has been true. But we are scratching our heads over something else. Why didn’t the Clinton and Obama campaigns pick centrally located La Grande for the visit? Back when Oregon primaries mattered in the presidential race, La Grande did have several serious contenders visit. Among the most prominent was Robert F. Kennedy, who campaigned in La Grande in May 1968. Kennedy was among five major presidential candidates who made campaign stops in La Grande between 1959 and 1968. John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, made a stop in La Grande in November 1959 not long before he announced what turned out to be a successful candidacy for president. U.S. Sen. Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota, Kennedy’s opponent in the primary, made a campaign stop in La Grande in February 1960. New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller made a campaign stop in March 1964. Less prominent candidates Patsi Mink, a congresswoman from Hawaii, campaigned here in 1972, and Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich got acquainted with La Grande in 2004. So why not La Grande? Its airport is longer than Baker City’s (5,600 feet to 5,059 feet) so that is not the issue. La Grande also boasts all the facilities of Eastern Oregon University and a politically astute population. La Grande is also centrally located. When an event is in Pendleton, the good folks at Baker City have to travel twice as far, and vice versa for when an event is in Baker City. In this day of nearly $4 a gallon gas, such efficiency measures become all the more important when scheduling events. Perhaps soon — not 40 more years from now — La Grande will get its chance in the political sun. If Oregon becomes an important swing state in the general election, here’s hoping the major party candidates think long and hard about scheduling campaign events in La Grande. |
