Shifting demographics drive GOP nosedive on US West Coast
(World News USA)

BEND, Ore. (AP) - In the early 1990s, the population of Bend was around 25,000 and leaned Republican. A lumber mill operated in the Oregon high-desert town along the banks of a scenic river. Today, the lumber mill is an REI outdoor recreation store. The population has quadrupled. And for the first time in memory, the number of registered Democrats in Deschutes County recently eclipsed the number of Republicans. The transformation shows how demographic shifts and the GOP`s tack further to the right are helping push the party into a nosedive along the West Coast. The last Republican presidential candidate that California went for was George H.W. Bush. For both Oregon and Washington, it was...