Dem senator slams 'Greater Idaho' movement to absorb conservative rural counties from liberal Oregon

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., over the weekend spoke out against a campaign to have the rural eastern part of his home state of deep-blue Oregon effectively secede and join more conservative Idaho. Speaking at a town hall at a local high school, Merkley said the idea of moving the Idaho-Oregon border raises important issues about Oregon's internal situation that need to be addressed but argued the project has essentially no chance of coming to fruition. "There are a whole set of barriers that would make the process very difficult," Merkley...