Eventually, the president left the Northwest behind for Washington, DC, the Oregon-specific part of the evening apparently having ended. After praising John Kitzhaber's record in office, Obama launched into an impassioned defense of his own.

(Update: This one's Denis, too; so direct any beefs his way!)

"This recession started long before I became president. We lost almost 8 million jobs , most of 'em lost even before any of our economic policies had been put in place. ... You'd have thought Democrats and Republicans would have come together. ... The basis of their campaign is amnesia."

Also, judging by the boos now, Republicans are evil. And we shouldn't let them get power. Because, apparently, young people in college won't get jobs. Health care would be stripped from the sick. Middle class workers will starve. Credit card companies will rape us. Et cetera:

"We have tried that before ,and we're not going back," the president said, repeatedly, noting that GOP economics "almost destroyed our economy."

In the midst of it all, he's given a few shouts to Kitzhaber. He spun a yarn about Kitz and himself, joined by Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, even Earl "Blu" Blumenauer pulling a car up out a ditch. And the Republicans are just watching, finally asking for the keys back once the car's fixed.

"And we have to tell them they can't have the keys back, because you don't know how to drive!"

The crowd loved that line, and the next one, too, even if it made me groan, something about shifting the car to "D" to move forward and to "R" to move backward.