McCain won county, but Obama captured third of Roseburg precincts

Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain won handily in Douglas County, securing nearly 58 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 election, Democrat Barack Obama made some striking inroads.

Obama, who will move into the White House in January after winning Oregon and the national race, won four of Roseburg’s 12 precincts and tied in another, according to precinct-by-precinct results from the county Elections Office. He also carried two Reedsport precincts and Loon Lake.

Altogether, McCain received 30,919 votes in Douglas County, compared to 20,298 votes for Obama. Statewide, Obama received 57 percent of the vote, while McCain received 40 percent of the 1.8 million votes cast in the race.

Four years ago, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry — who was defeated by President George W. Bush — carried only one Douglas County precinct, Reedsport’s Pioneer Precinct 3. Four years earlier, Al Gore’s only win came in the same precinct.

The largest margin for Obama, 76 votes, came in Roseburg’s Lane Precinct 43. He received 348 votes to 272 for McCain. The precinct includes the Mill-Pine neighborhood.

Obama also prevailed in Hawthorne Precinct 41, Laurelwood Precinct 44 and Fairhaven Precinct 45. He outpolled McCain by a total of 82 votes in those three precincts.

McCain’s biggest Roseburg win came in Hucrest Precinct 36, where he beat Obama by 357 votes, 712-535. He outpolled Obama by a total of 415 votes out of 5,047 votes cast for the two men in six other Roseburg precincts.

McCain and Obama tied with 307 votes apiece in Hermann Precinct 42, which takes in a portion of downtown Roseburg and an area south of there. The Lane precinct borders it on the north at Cass Avenue and west along Pine Street.

Obama bettered Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s support from Douglas County in the 2004 race by more than 5 percentage points and Al Gore’s performance in the 2000 race by more than 8 points. Kerry received 18,087 votes, while Gore received 14,193, according to county voting records.

On the Republican side, Bush gained a higher percentage of votes in Douglas County during both of his presidential races than McCain. Bush received 63 percent of the vote in 2000 against Gore and nearly 65 percent in 2004 against Kerry.

However, McCain received 625 votes more than the 30,294 Bush received during his 2000 race. However, there were 5,581 more votes cast this year than the 47,881 cast in 2000.

In his 2004 re-election campaign, Bush received 35,956 votes out of the 55,574 cast countywide.

In the U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Gordon Smith and Democrat Jeff Merkley, Smith won 70 of the 72 Douglas County precincts. Merkley won in the Pioneer Precinct 3 in Reedsport and in Loon Lake Precinct 8. Statewide, the House speaker defeated the two-term senator by nearly 60,000 votes.

In the House District 2 race between Republican Tim Freeman and Democrat Harry McDermott, Freeman won all 33 precincts in gaining 65 percent of the vote. Freeman will replace five-term Rep. Susan Morgan, who will become a Douglas County commissioner in January.

In the House District 7 race between House Minority Leader Bruce Hanna and Democrat Don Nordin, Hanna won 19 of the 20 Douglas County precincts. Nordin received two more votes in the Loon Lake Precinct out of 52 votes cast for the two candidates.

• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.