 As late as October 2008, "The Cook Political Report" still considered it a 'Toss-Up'.Although Smith carried all but eight of Oregon's 36 counties, one of the counties he lost was Multnomah County, home to Portland.Ultimately, Merkley's 142,000-vote margin in Multnomah, his home county, proved too much for Smith to overcome; it was more than double Merkley's overall margin of 59,100 votes.