Kerry supporters like the result in Oregon.

Byline: Joe Harwood and Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

While John Kerry won by a comfortable margin in Lane County and in Oregon, all partisan political eyes late Tuesday night were turned about 2,400 miles to the east awaiting the final results from the Buckeye State.

With Ohio and its 20 electoral votes hanging in the balance, Lane County Democrats celebrated Kerry's Oregon victory while lamenting President George W. Bush's solid lead nationwide thanks to a sweep of the Midwest and the South.

"It's tense," said John Agnew of Eugene, who was one of more than 200 Kerry supporters gathered at the Veterans' Memorial Building on Willamette Street. "At this stage of the game, it doesn't look good.'

Though a resounding cheer went up when CNN, via a huge projection TV, declared John Kerry the winner here in the Beaver State, the mood remained somber as Bush continued to build on his ever-growing electoral lead.

"I don't want to be completely pessimistic, but I thought Kerry would be further ahead," Vicki Lavine of Eugene said. "I was hoping the vote would repudiate Bush's agenda of war and favoring the rich."

The atmosphere was reversed eight blocks away, on the ninth floor of the Citizens Building, where about 200 Lane County Republicans watched their national sweep unfold just like a Saturday afternoon Ducks football game - except for red-and-blue vs. green-and-yellow centerpieces.

Dozens of University of Oregon Republicans were on their feet screaming as Fox News flashed each new winning score on a giant projection TV: Florida, then New Mexico. The decibels increased with each announcement.

"This is just the most beautiful night of my life. It's glorious," said a hoarse Tom Albright, 20, a UO College Republican. He said he hopes to seek an Oregon House seat in 2008 and the presidency someday.

To reveler Bob Siegmund, Bush's momentum was rewarding. The 59-year-old property manager said he lives in South Eugene, where few conservatives remain. "In Eugene, it's tough to be a Republican. This is like validation to me to see I'm right. It's very satisfying to see Bush pull this off."

With red, white and blue pompoms, 9-year-old Lizzie Navarro and 10-year-old Arielle Truitt performed political cheers.

The home-school buddies had been developing routines since their parents took them to see Bush several weeks ago at a Medfordcampaign stop.

"Kerry, Kerry he's no man!" they yelled. "He can't do it, Busher can. Go-o-o Bush!"

At the Vets Club, the announcement that Alaska's three electoral votes were going to Bush sparked a chorus of boos and words unfit for print.

"I hate to say it, but I'm resigned to four more years of Bush," Agnew said.

Oregon voters proved the pundits right by handing Kerry a 53 percent to 46 percent win. That's higher than than the sliver-of-a-percentage victory the state gave to Al Gore in the 2000 election.

The last time Oregon awarded its seven electoral votes to a Republican was part of Ronald Reagan's second-term landslide in 1984.

Lane County is even more consistently liberal.

On Tuesday, the county stuck with its 24-year inclination to back a Democrat by favoring Sen. John Kerry with 58 percent of the votes cast.

Since 1980, the county has never seen a Democratic presidential contender it didn't like, including the dashed candidacies of Walter Mondale in 1984 and Michael Dukakis in 1988.

CAPTION(S):

Diane Sciaccg of Eugene cheers at the Lane Events Center as results show that Democratic candidate John Kerry wins Oregon.