Can Jeb Bush win Oregon and Washington?

[Suburbia]

Can Jeb Bush make OR and WA competitive, even win it if Sanders runs as an independent and take votes from Hillary Clinton? George W. Bush almost won both in 2000 and 2004.

[TDAS04]

No.

[ElectionsGuy]

MAYBE if Sanders were to somehow win he could win Oregon, no to both otherwise.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Oregon - almost certainly no
Washington - utterly impossible

[SingingAnalyst]

Maybe OR if there's a significant green party movement.

[JonathanSwift]

Well, seasoned political analyst Mark Halperin has stated that Bush could win California and New Jersey, so I don't see why Oregon or Washington would be off the table.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Sanders is NOT going to run as an independent.  Nor is Sanders going to fail to endorse the Democratic nominee should he lose.

[SWE]

Assuming the entire population of Seattle and Portland forgot to vote, maybe

[Nyvin]

Sanders will not run as an independent.

Oregon and Washington don't vote the same as they did in 2000 and 2004 either, both have become much more firmly democratic.

[dmmidmi]

I voted yes, because the idea that Jeb Bush could win either state is completely ridiculous.

[CapoteMonster]

No, he's one of the worst fits possible for those two states.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Sanders is NOT going to run as an independent.  Nor is Sanders going to fail to endorse the Democratic nominee should he lose.

This. With the state of the Republican Party today, I don't see them having much appeal in the Northwest.

[Flake]

Bush is tied right now in Arizona, he sure as hell ain't winning those liberal bastions.

[WVdemocrat]

I agree with everyone else. Long gone are the days when the GOP could compete in the Pacific Northwest. The only way I could see this happening is if Bush openly stated he fooled the party into nominating him and is actually a staunch liberal, to the left of Hillary. Other than that entirely likely scenario, no.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Reported for trolling. 

[CountryClassSF]

I believe those states are now full of granola eater types - it will take a long time for them to flip again on the federal level.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Only if the Democratic nominee absolutely craters, and probably not even then.

[Suburbia]

Only if the Democratic nominee absolutely craters, and probably not even then.

If Oregon, Washington can't be competitive in 2016, and there's only 7 believed swing states, this country is finished. Where is the competitiveness?

[Skye]

If he wins by a an Obama-like landslide, I don't see why not. You guys need to open your minds to possibilities. These states aren't Maryland, or New York.

[Ebowed]

If he wins by a an Obama-like landslide, I don't see why not. You guys need to open your minds to possibilities. These states aren't Maryland, or New York.

Yeah, unlike Maryland, these states voted Democratic in 1988.

What's important to take into account here is levels of polarisation, for which these two states have some of the highest.  Even in a national wave, this part of the country is still one of the best to be a Democrat.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Can Jeb Bush make OR and WA competitive, even win it if Sanders runs as an independent and take votes from Hillary Clinton? George W. Bush almost won both in 2000 and 2004.

If Bush can win in 58% landslide(Not happening) yes he can win both other then that no

[Lief 🗽]

I don't think Washington or Oregon are elastic enough. Too polarized.

[publicunofficial]

Pro-Tip: Unless the Republican candidate comes out in favor of same-sex marriage and/or pro-choice policies, they're not even going to make it close in the Pacific Northwest.

[HAnnA MArin County]

Pro-Tip: Unless the Republican candidate comes out in favor of same-sex marriage and/or pro-choice policies, they're not even going to make it close in the Pacific Northwest.

Are you sure it's just because of those two issues, because Monica Wehby was pro-choice and pro-marriage equality and she got hammered by 19 points in Oregon in a Republican year. Democrats also gained seats in both chambers of the Oregon state legislature in 2014 when they were wiped out elsewhere. Given this, I would keep Oregon in the safe Democratic column. I don't seen any Republican winning it or making it close in 2016.

[publicunofficial]

Pro-Tip: Unless the Republican candidate comes out in favor of same-sex marriage and/or pro-choice policies, they're not even going to make it close in the Pacific Northwest.

Are you sure it's just because of those two issues, because Monica Wehby was pro-choice and pro-marriage equality and she got hammered by 19 points in Oregon in a Republican year. Democrats also gained seats in both chambers of the Oregon state legislature in 2014 when they were wiped out elsewhere. Given this, I would keep Oregon in the safe Democratic column. I don't seen any Republican winning it or making it close in 2016.

I said it'd keep them close, not that it'd make them win. Wehby's campaign was badly run, and that has more to do with her loss than any of her policies. 

But in particular, Washington is arguably the most pro-choice state in the nation.