Election 2008 Primer: Recognizing The Perfect Country & Western Song

Those vaguely mysterious but often-quoted "some" say that one of the keys for Oregon Democrats hoping to win statewide elections is the ability to pull in the more-conservative voters from rural Oregon and the Portland Metro bedroom communities that stretch to the tri-counties' outer reaches and beyond.

Knowing the finer points of country music certainly can't hurt win hearts and minds there, especially in those "east of the Cascades" locations like Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Gordon Smith's home town of Pendleton.

To that end, I've compiled a short primer on just what exactly makes The Perfect Country & Western Song:

This song, written by Steve Goodman and performed by David Allen Coe, seems like an obvious choice because Goodman went out of his way in the last verse to mention Mama, trains, trucks, prison, and gettin' drunk.

But this tune by one-eyed Dick Curless has got to be a close second.

And don't forget George Jones.