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Karl Rove: 5 deep thoughts at start of GOP convention

Karl Rove has resuscitated his political career and now runs Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads, two political organizations that could spend $1 billion combined to promote Republicans during the coming election. Here are five political pearls from arguably the No. 1 conservative powerbroker in America.

3. Oddest 2016 battleground state

Richard Clement/REUTERS/File
A cyclist drops off his election ballot at a drop box in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 4, 2008.

  • By David Grant Staff writer

“Something is going on in Oregon,” Rove said.

Crunchy, Northwest, 57-percent-voted-for-Obama-in-2008 Oregon?

Yup, it “mystifies” Rove, too, but Oregon was the name he gave for a state that could be a future battleground.

This is how he sees it: The state was competitive in 2000, going for Democrat Al Gore by a razor-thin 46.9 percent to 46.5 percent margin. Rove said he’s seeing “a little bit of evidence that Obama has some difficulty there” this election cycle, although not enough to be threatening.

Rove hypothesizes that the state’s “libertarian, Western, iconoclastic” character could be an interesting mix for Republicans, even though it remains one of the most “unchurched” states in the Union.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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