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Democrats See 'Tremendous Appeal' In North Carolina

August 5, 2008 — North Carolina is emerging as a key battleground state in the 2008 presidential election.

It has been a red state, meaning that it has voted solid Republican, the last several elections. But the red has begun to fade as more and more Tar Heel voters give the Democrats a serious look.

Democratic registration is up in North Carolina. Republican registration is down.

Steve Hildibrand, deputy campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama, said he sees “tremendous appeal” in North Carolina.

“If you go in and look at the number of unregistered voters, African-American voters, the potential is just incredible,” he said.

There are 5.8 million registered voters in North Carolina. A quarter of them are black.

Democrats, who have trailed for so long in North Carolina, saw things take a sharp turn in their favor when presidential candidate John Kerry selected the former North Carolina senator, John Edwards, to be his running mate in 2004.

Edwards also ran for president in 2008, once again giving Tar Heel Democrats national attention.

Until then, North Carolina had become one of the biggest and reddist of the Republican strongholds.

Sensing an opportunity to make a move and change things a bit, Obama’s campaign immediately sent a team of campaign experts and fund-raising officials to North Carolina to organize and prepare the way.

Obama has already put in an early campaign appearance in North Carolina to help kick off a major voter registration drive and television ad campaign.

Having him at the top of the ticket certainly adds to the excitement.

South Carolina Democrats are hoping to get the same attention from the Obama campaign but don’t count on it.

Phil Noble, former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor from Charleston, is optimistic. He wrote a recent op-ed piece entitled, “Why Obama Will Win South Carolina.”

It caused quite a stir among S.C. Republicans. The idea of Obama winning was a pipe dream, they said,

“We in South Carolina are working to make our dream come true…and it will happen,” Noble predicted.

So confident of victory, Noble proposed a friendly wager to state GOP chairman Katon Dawson that the loser buy the victor a dinner of the finest South Carolina barbeque, with all the trimmings, at any restaurant of the winner’s choice in the state except “Maurice’s.”

Maurice Bessinger, owner of the largest barbecue restaurant chain in the state, is known for his efforts to keep the Confederate battle flag flying atop the state capitol dome.

The issue of the flag doesn’t appear to be hurting Obama, in fact it may be helping him among the more moderate voters in the state.

He said he has succeeded in expanding the electoral map in his race against Republican John McCain, principally in Southern and Southwestern states but also in Montana and North Dakota.