MSNBC calls Oregon for Obama

One network made an unsurprising call and declared Barack Obama the victor in Oregon's Democratic primary, but the others are holding off.

Published May 21, 2008 3:03AM (EDT)

The deadline for voters in Oregon to drop off their ballots passed at 11 p.m. EDT, and with that, the call came in quickly from MSNBC, which declared Barack Obama the winner of that state's Democratic primary. Both CNN and Fox News are holding off on making any call, however -- they're waiting for more results to come in, most likely because of the unique mail-in balloting system used in Oregon.

According to the exit polling on candidate preference I saw earlier, Obama will likely win a big victory in Oregon, though not as big as the one Hillary Clinton pulled off in Kentucky earlier Tuesday night. That polling, though, is subject to the usual potential for error, magnified in this case by the difficulty of trying to produce accurate modeling in a state that conducts its voting by mail.

Update: Fox News didn't take long to catch up to its rival and frequent antagonist -- FNC has projected that Obama will win the Oregon Democratic primary. Update II: CNN has now projected for Obama as well.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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