If Oregon weren't perhaps the hardest state in the union among petitioning states, it would be a ripe target for Ward Connerly. Yesterday, Oregon's governor decided to enhance preference programs in state contracting, according to this OregonLive report:

He's issued an executive order asking 11 agency directors to step up their efforts to recruit minority- and women-owned businesses for state contracts.

What makes Oregon particularly difficult though in petition terms is that it is the home of the strongest union and so-called progressive (flipping the graves of those progressives of the early 20th Century who founded the petitioning rights movement) "blocking" movement. Some credit the birth of modern highly aggressive and organized blocking to Oregon in 2004, although the technique certainly has existed as long as petitioning in some form.

Still, Ward Connerly will have to eventually move on to some harder targets after the 2008 election cycle ends, and I'd place Oregon on the list at the top in terms of need.