AS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS first reported last night, Obama officially secured the pledges of enough delegates to be presumed the Democratic Nominee for President of the U.S.A. and this comes as happy news to many young people in Oregon. Judy Lee, a student at Sheldon High in Eugene excitedly claims "all my friends and I totally support him. I think it's wonderful that we actually have an African American nominee...and possibly President." I asked Judy if there were many disappointed Clinton supporters among her peers.

"A few were neutral," she replied after thinking about it. "But most are for Obama."

That proportion can be seen on larger scales. After all, it wasn't long ago that Barack Obama drew a crowd of over 72,000 people to a Portland rally, and not too long prior that he filled University of Oregon's MacArthur Court to the rafters.

Oregon voted in the Democratic Primary on May 20 (Obama taking 30 of 52 possible delegates) and as you may or may not know, Oregonians Do It Sleet, Shine, Rain, or Snow...with a little help from the U.S. Postal Service, of course.

I can tell you firsthand that West Oregon appears to be pro-Obama for the most part. Don't get me wrong, during the long, hard fight for the Democratic Nomination, we've had our Hillary supporters, but overwhelmingly, you could count on cities like Eugene and Portland and Salem and Medford to be behind the senator from Illinois. And much of that is powered by college age students, from what I both read and see for myself.

Now East Oregon may well be another story, as it is in many ways culturally another land entirely. This may be important to note if you have followed my videos so far. They can, at this point, safely be said to reflect much more of West Oregon, especially the liberal-minded areas like Eugene and Portland.

Meanwhile, a whole new battle is gearing up between Barack Obama and John McCain. When I asked Judy about how many of her friends were McCain supporters, she only repeated the word as if she didn't understand it. "McCain?"

I asked the same question of Derek Duman of North Eugene High, and he admitted a "few" friends were McCain supporters, but "about 75% are for Obama." Derek was also excited about Obama clinching the nomination last night.

"It's exciting to see this happen because he's African American, to see that America is changing and evolving from our old ways" he said.