Sen. Clinton to visit Ashland

Hillary Clinton

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. is coming to the Rogue Valley this week, officials say.

"Sen. Clinton will be in Jackson County on Thursday for at least one public event," Clinton campaign official Julie Edwards said on Sunday.

Clinton will visit the Ashland Springs Hotel on Thursday to hold a forum for 250 people, with tickets going for $250, said Karolina Wyszynska, director of sales and marketing for the hotel. The senator will also hold a VIP gathering for $2,500 a head, Wyszynska said. She will not be staying at the hotel, however, and event times have not been released, Wyszynska said.

"We are very excited of course, and just hoping that everything goes smoothly," she said.

Further details regarding Clinton's visit will be released later in the week, Edwards said.

Former President Bill Clinton spoke before about 2,500 people in March at a rally in the gymnasium at North Medford High, and another presidential hopeful, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, held a town hall meeting for 2,000 at Kids Unlimited in Medford the previous week.

Most political insiders had assumed the fight between Clinton and Obama would have been decided by now. Since that's not the case, Oregon is finding itself center stage in the presidential race. Oregon's mail-in primary is one of the last in the nation, and with every delegate needed to win, the state's primary is becoming increasingly necessary to secure victory, officials say.

Democrats now comprise nearly 42 percent of Oregon voters and 36 percent of Jackson County's registered voters, a figure that's expected to grow as final numbers pour in from county elections offices. The growth is due to the last-minute voters who flocked to change their party affiliation or register for the first time to participate in the historically close May primary.

According to the Oregon Secretary of State's office, there were 845,196 registered Democrats in Oregon as of Wednesday, up by nearly 81,000 from January. During the same period, Republicans lost more than 4,500 voters, according to the secretary of state's count. There are now 683,371 Republicans registered, or about 33.6 percent of the state's more than 2 million voters.

In Jackson County, according to the local Elections Center, there are 41,126 Democrats, 46,229 Republicans and 27,386 independents or those registered with other parties. That represents 36 percent who are Democrats and 40 percent who are Republicans.

The last minute surge of 1,500 new registrations will take a few days to process before the final number for the May primary.

The deadline to register or switch parties was Tuesday. Ballots will be mailed to voters starting on Friday. Most voters should receive them by Monday or Tuesday. Votes are counted May 20.