In other words, in two of the last three presidential elections Republicans got 47% of the vote and, when a left-wing third party candidate got 5% of the vote, the Republican candidate almost carried its 7 electoral votes. In 2010 Democrat John Kitzhaber won the governorship by only a 49%-48% margin; Republicans won a 60-60 tie in the state House and Democrats held on to only a 16-14 margin in the state Senate. So at least in 2010 Republicans were getting close to 50%. In 2010 elections to the U.S. House in Oregon Democrats, who held four of the five seats, won 51% of the votes to 46% for Republicans.

My guess: someone in the Obama campaign somewhere are concerned that Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson may cut into Obama’s vote in Oregon, which could make Mitt Romney competitive as George W. Bush was in 2000.