North Carolina Results Discussion Thread

Nov 4, 2008

[MitchellC]

This is the discussion thread for North Carolina results. Post important news and info here; I'll make new posts for the final results of the major races here, but in the meantime, this is where we can sweat and celebrate.

Some of the major races other than McCain-Obama, for interested outsiders...

Governor: Pat McCrory (R, 13 year mayor of Charlotte) v Beverly Perdue (D, Lt. Governor)

Senate: Elizabeth Dole (R, Inc) v Kay Hagan (D, state senator)

Lt. Governor: Robert Pittenger (R, state senator) v Walter Dalton (D, state senator)

8th US House District: Robin Hayes (R, inc) v Larry Kissell (D, school teacher) - Hayes survived a challenge from Kissell in 2006 by only a few hundred votes.

[MitchellC]

I still think NC was intended as a distraction, and the real target of Obama's has been Virginia.

http://projects.newsobserver.com/dome

"Ted Arrington says Barack Obama could win even by losing North Carolina.

The UNC-Charlotte politics professor said that the Democratic presidential candidate forced Republican John McCain to spend valuable time, money and energy defending the Tar Heel state.

"He succeeded when he forced McCain and Palin to spend money here, put in staff here and campaign here, which they didn't have the time or money to do," he told Dome. "That came straight ouf out of what they needed in Pennsylvania, Ohio and so forth. ... It was a brilliant strategy."

Arrington said no matter who wins the state, it will be close.

He said that Obama had an aggressive ground campaign backed by millions of dollars' worth of advertising and thousands of volunteers, while McCain came late to the state. He called Obama's ground-level efforts the best he'd seen in 50 years.

"If Obama carries the state, you can look back and say the ground campaign did it," he said."

"Barack Obama had 10 times as many volunteers as John McCain.

The Obama campaign claims it had at least 21,000 active volunteers in North Carolina for the general election. The McCain campaign says it had at least 2,000."

"Barack Obama had 10 times John McCain's staff in North Carolina.

The Democratic presidential candidate had about 400 paid staffers here by October, while the Republican had 35.

The McCain campaign also had several hundred "deployeds" — volunteers from South Carolina and other neighboring states to help canvass.

In addition, Obama's staffers had a head start.

Aside from working ahead of the competitive Democratic primary here on May 6, the Obama campaign also had 12 state offices by early August.

McCain's Victory campaigns didn't start staffing up until later in August and didn't begin in earnest until after Labor Day. Prior to that, the North Carolina campaign had been run out of a Southeastern regional office based in Tallahassee."

[MitchellC]

NC *Ping*

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[padre35]

I would enjoy it if the Easley Council of State were thrown out on their toukises...

Crooks, Crooks, Crooks...

McCrory even made an appearance in Asheville, took questions, the whole bit, Raleigh Mafia would never dare to try such a thing.

[alancarp]

Absentee and early voting results are being posted thus far on http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NC/7937/12091/en/summary.html

Obummer - 54.6% to McCain 44.64%
Straight party voting constitutes 2/3rds of those votes at a 62% to 37% clip for the Dems.
Likewise, Hagan leads Dole 56% to 41%. Interesting that McCain is polling 3% better than Dole...

Uh, oh: Fox is projecting that Hagan will win.

[TC Rider]

Fox just called it a win for Hagan.

[MitchellC]

Fox just called NC for Hagan with only 10% of precincts in?!?!?!?!

[frankiep]

Fox just called the senate for Kay Hagan. Dole is out.

Not a good sign.

[MitchellC]

Fox just called NC for Hagan with only 10% of precincts in?!?!?!?!

[DAC21]

Thanks Libby...that commercial hurt McCain as well. Another Dole “F” up.

[branch15_5]

Not good, indeed. This is not shaping up well at the moment.

Godless America PAC rejoices.

[steveyp]

The call on Dole is surprising, it seems early.

NC cannot go Obama. Shocking.

[PeteB570]

It’s Liddy with a D.

And it’s an old nickname that she does not like.

[padre35]

NBC just called PA for Obamao with -0- votes in, nothing unusual there.

[alancarp]

McCrory is behind, but polling better than McCain by about 1%.
McCain is polling 4% better than Dole.

Robin Hayes is getting hammered. VIrginia Foxx is leading, but it is close and Forsyth County is not in the game yet.

[wolfpat]

The Fox analysts are on crack. The State Board Of Elections web site is showing counties that have reported. Most of them are heavily infested with RATS.

http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/NC/7937/12146/en/summary.html

[debboo]

NC sucks! Dole shouldhave kept her evangelical elitist mouth closed. The NC mountains must be the new stopping place for the trickle down from the upper eastcoast.

[padre35]

Hayes really got smacked with his Free Trade votes, his district was hammered with job losses and he barely eeked out a win last time.

[mewzilla]

It'll be interesting to see how many of Hagan's voters split their tickets and voted for McCain.

I don't see voters given two branches to the 'Rats.

[trumandogz]

For the first time since 1954 there will not be a Dole or Bush serving in Washington.

This was the first tim since 1976 that the GOP did not have a Dole or Bush on the Presidential Ticket.

[Glacier Honey]

So did CNN

[steveyp]

Very interesting. I can’t say I’ve ever voted with great enthusiasm for any Bush or Dole.

Bush 88 (P)
Bush 92 (P)
Dole 96 (P)
Bush 00 (P)
Dole 02 (S)
Bush 04 (P)

Remarkable.

I wish Reagan would have produced offspring with comparable political aspiration and allegiance to the father’s politics...

[alancarp]

We're now at around 2/3rds of the vote counted in the state. McCain barely has his first lead of the night -- under 1,000 votes at 49.55%.

Hagan up 52% to 44.5%
Perdue over McCrory by 2.3%
Dalton over Pittenger by 4.4%
US House: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Kissell, Myrick, McHenry, Shuler, Watt, Miller. The closest is Kissel over Hates, but it's a 7% margin.

[alancarp]

While I’m here on this now dismal night, I’ll give a shout-out to my home county of Yadkin — not a single Democrat prevailed in any race.... National, State, or Local. Pleased to hold up our end here in the Western Piedmont.

[alancarp]

McCrory has closed to 1.45% - 50,000 votes - with 15 counties still not reporting...he’s been closing all night. My bet is that this one ends up with a recount.

[STONEWALLS]

...I live in Ashe County and we went strong Republican too....when I went to the fire hall to vote at 10am this morning they had been busy since they opened at 6:30...lots of people were fired up about this election.

[clyde asbury]

Cumberland County/Fayetteville went for 0bama, 59 percent, but that was expected.

[alancarp]

Dang... Perdue extends lead and is now over 50%. Mea culpa — that race now virtually over as well.

[JWinNC]

Lessons to be learned (that should have already been learned):

If you want to win the White House, you must start early, get organized, get to the battlegrounds “firstest with the mostest.”

If you want to be re-elected to an NC Senate seat, don’t act like Mr. Edwards, “Senator Gone.” You can’t be too busy for your state and you can’t go to sleep at the wheel.

jw

[MitchellC]

Well, no more prognosticating from me. I couldn't have been more wrong if I'd tried.

How did the bloodbath effect everyone's local races? In Charlotte, the Dems now have all three At-Large seats. Also, state House 99 is now represented by a crook named Nick Mackey. I tried to prevent that one but the Dems succeeded in getting a huuuuge number of voters to go straight ticket for them.

Pat McCrory didn't even win Mecklenburg. Perdue edged him out by .1%.

I have to wonder what the black turnout was in NC; 90%, perhaps? After all, if you're black and not voting for Obama, you're not performing your racial duty. And Charlotte is one of the top three destinations in the country for blacks, so this will continue to get worse for as long as the community unquestioningly follows the Democratic Party.

Robin Hayes finally fell. His district was re-drawn to include only the worst parts of Mecklenburg and Union counties a few cycles back (an accident, I'm sure).

I had an inkling that things might be bad on Monday night, when I saw a TV ad from Rep. Sue Myrick, who is usually safe with a few billboards and a radio ad or two.

The final numbers for NC...

Registered Voters: 6,262,566
Ballots Cast: 4,321,001
Voter Turnout: 69.00 %

Obama/Biden (DEM) 49.70% 2,123,390
McCain/Palin (REP) 49.38% 2,109,698
Barr/Root (LIB) 0.59% 25,419

[Adding Barr's numbers would have given McCain the state, but I'm more concerned about all the Republicans that turned out to vote for Obama.]

Straight party votes:
DEMOCRATIC 58.86% 1,264,076
REPUBLICAN 40.27% 864,907
LIBERTARIAN 0.86% 18,543


Senate:
Kay Hagan (DEM) 52.67% 2,225,961
Elizabeth Dole (REP) 44.18% 1,867,269
Christopher Cole (LIB) 3.11% 131,590

[I scratch my head over Chris Cole getting 3%; it's higher than Mike Munger, who was the only LP guy who made any news. I have to wonder if people didn't confuse "Cole" for "Dole." Cole is a perennial candidate and prolific letter-writer from the Mecklenburg area, who usually gets a fraction of a point.]


Governor:
Bev Perdue (DEM) 50.23% 2,121,320
Pat McCrory (REP) 46.90% 1,980,769
Michael C. Munger (LIB) 2.86% 120,876

[Any other year, and this would have been McCrory's. A real shame for our state and especially for the Charlotte area, which will continue to get sucked dry so that Democrats can buy off the rest of the state with pork while our roads go to heck.]


Lt. Governor:
Walter H. Dalton (DEM) 51.08% 2,109,356
Robert Pittenger (REP) 45.89% 1,894,890
Phillip Rhodes (LIB) 3.03% 125,164


Attorney General:
Roy Cooper (DEM) 61.12% 2,511,617
Bob Crumley (REP) 38.88% 1,597,595

[I don't know Crumley, but didn't it seem bad that we were running a guy who was known to the public as an ambulance chaser?]


Auditor:
Beth A. Wood (DEM) 53.56% 2,151,595
Leslie Merritt (REP) 46.44% 1,865,303

[Another victim of straight ticket voting, I suppose.]


Commissioner of Agriculture:
Ronnie Ansley (DEM) 47.95% 1,941,548
Steve Troxler (REP) 52.05% 2,107,270

[What is Troxler's secret?]


Commissioner of Insurance:
Wayne Goodwin (DEM) 51.56% 2,083,236
John Odom (REP) 44.59% 1,801,750
Mark McMains (LIB) 3.77% 152,201


Commissioner of Labor:
Mary Fant Donnan (DEM) 49.40% 1,993,640
Cherie Berry (REP) 50.60% 2,042,059


Secretary of State:
Elaine F. Marshall (DEM) 56.80% 2,291,980
Jack Sawyer (REP) 43.20% 1,743,158


Superintendent of Public Instruction:
June St. Clair Atkinson (DEM) 53.66% 2,154,267
Richard Morgan (REP) 46.34% 1,860,088

[Not a loss I'm particularly upset about.]


Treasurer:
Janet Cowell (DEM) 53.61% 2,155,543
Bill Daughtridge (REP) 46.39% 1,865,275


US House 1:
G.K. Butterfield (DEM) 69.96% 190,344
Dean Stephens (REP) 30.04% 81,746

US House 2:
Bob Etheridge (DEM) 66.97% 198,038
Dan Mansell (REP) 31.24% 92,381
Will Adkins (LIB) 1.79% 5,308

US House 3:
Craig Weber (DEM) 34.13% 103,351
Walter B. Jones (REP) 65.87% 199,489

US House 4:
David Price (DEM) 63.44% 263,151
William (B.J.) Lawson (REP) 36.56% 151,672

US House 5:
Roy Carter (DEM) 41.70% 134,829
Virginia Foxx (REP) 58.30% 188,471

US House 6:
Teresa Sue Bratton (DEM) 33.01% 108,374
Howard Coble (REP) 66.99% 219,900

US House 7:
Mike McIntyre (DEM) 68.81% 213,145
Will Breazeale (REP) 31.19% 96,623

US House 8:
Larry Kissell (DEM) 55.41% 155,746
Robert C. (Robin) Hayes (REP) 44.59% 125,355

US House 9:
Harry Taylor (DEM) 35.92% 138,194
Sue Myrick (REP) 62.35% 239,903
Andy Grum (LIB) 1.73% 6,669

US House 10:
Daniel Johnson (DEM) 42.44% 125,936
Patrick McHenry (REP) 57.56% 170,811

US House 11:
Heath Shuler (DEM) 61.98% 210,304
Carl Mumpower (REP) 35.82% 121,524
Keith Smith (LIB) 2.20% 7,475

[Mumpower ran a campaign that was nothing less than godawful. He started out the general campaign by calling for the impeachment of Bush, and finished it by 'debating' a cardboard stand-up of Shuler at campaign events.]

US House 12:
Mel Watt (DEM) 71.57% 214,947
Ty Cobb, Jr. (REP) 28.43% 85,398

US House 13:
Brad Miller (DEM) 66.29% 214,829
Hugh Webster (REP) 33.71% 109,247

NC *Ping*

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[TaxRelief]

Clearly, Linda Daves the NC GOP chair is an abject failure, but we’ve always known the Daves are fakes.

[B4Ranch]

Looks to me as if the People in NC are determined to get across to the REPs that they are pissed off and fed up with the past four years.

[Knitebane]

[I scratch my head over Chris Cole getting 3%; it's higher than Mike Munger, who was the only LP guy who made any news. I have to wonder if people didn't confuse "Cole" for "Dole." Cole is a perennial candidate and prolific letter-writer from the Mecklenburg area, who usually gets a fraction of a point.]

That's your non-religious Republican protest vote.

A Pubbie steps into the voting booth, is upset with Dole and won't vote for her, can't quite bring themselves to vote for the Dim, so votes for the third person.

Dole really pissed off a lot of people with that last ad.

[TaxRelief]

What was that last ad? And who came up with it?

[JohnnyZ]

[I scratch my head over Chris Cole getting 3%; it's higher than Mike Munger, who was the only LP guy who made any news. I have to wonder if people didn't confuse "Cole" for "Dole." Cole is a perennial candidate and prolific letter-writer from the Mecklenburg area, who usually gets a fraction of a point.]

Dole did a mediocre job and was part of the Establishment Republican problem that got the GOP in the mess it's in.

Many people did not vote for her because she did a half-ass job.

[JohnnyZ]

What was that last ad? And who came up with it?

The ad attacked Hagan for holding a fundraiser in Boston hosted by one of the leaders of Godless Americans PAC and John Kerry.

The media was incensed that Dole would try to make an issue of Hagan accepting support and funding from radical Massachusetts liberals.

Dole had lost the race a while before that, though, and her only hope was on the coattails of a McCain presidential victory.

It's a shame to lose Les Merritt (running a woman against him worked), and in a normal year Merritt wins and McCrory beats Perdue.

Of significant note: Jim Long handed the baton to Wayne Goodwin, who will continue the practice of sending out insurance rebates the month before the election with his name plastered all over the cheque.

[csmusaret]

I think all the New Yorkers who have moved here have changed the politics of the state. I know that is true in Mecklenburg County.

[JohnnyZ]

I think all the New Yorkers who have moved here have changed the politics of the state. I know that is true in Mecklenburg County.

Because North Carolina was doing so well before the Yankees came, right? Corrupt Dems have been running the state for decades.

[Knitebane]

Report on the "Godless" ad.

There's a YouTube link at the bottom of the article.

[Tax-chick]

I wondered why Robin Hayes always seemed to be struggling; figured something was goofy about his district.

My Mr. Blackwood, state rep, won with about 65%. I realize that’s not a race of earth-shattering importance, but I felt strongly about it! Union has all Republican county commissioners; maybe the two added this election won’t be as crooked as the last batch. We put in two Republican at-large school board members, fwiw. Recorder of Deeds, Soil and Water Supervisor, and so on.

I’ve been failing to panic through this whole election cycle, and I’m certainly not going to start now. My major trial in the near future is getting through Mass a week from Sunday with no guitar. (Viola, violin, percussion, and vocal. Ole’!

[Tax-chick]

Mrs. Dole was a generally solid Republican vote in the Senate, but that didn’t do a lot of good for her image when the administration line was so unpopular. She doesn’t even have a good haircut any more; apparently her stylist decided to go all Urban, and now she looks old.

I’ve always liked the Doles, and I hope they enjoy their well-earned retirement back in Ioway or wherever they come from.

[azhenfud]

"Any other year, and this would have been McCrory's."

McCrory double-crossed me a year or so ago by going limp-wristed when he should've been a leader. Can anyone remember "ELMWOOD"?

He needs to stay at home a while now and ponder why he lost.

[Alia]

Thank you, MitchellC for posting these post-mortems. The stats provide an interesting picture.

[Tax-chick]

And light rail, and the stadium. Phoop on him. Probably means he’d have been a raging pain if he’d won.

I’m hoping Perdue and company will be so busy looting the treasury that the bypass will never be built past my subdivision :-).

[Kozak]

For the first time since 1954 there will not be a Dole or Bush serving in Washington. This was the first time since 1976 that the GOP did not have a Dole or Bush on the Presidential Ticket.

And herein lies much of what is wrong with the GOP and the Republic. On both sides of the aisle it now resembles the late Roman Republic with Patrician families controlling all....

[Non-Sequitur]

I’ve always liked the Doles, and I hope they enjoy their well-earned retirement back in Ioway or wherever they come from.

Bob Dole was from Kansas but I don't think he's been back since losing the '96 election. Liddy was from North Carolina, allegedly. The truth is that now both are from D.C.

[Tax-chick]

Good point.

[Tax-chick]

I agree. I don’t like this business of electing people because they’re somebody’s child or spouse, whether it’s Democrats or Republicans. These people think they’re Entitled.

When Oklahoma District 1 didn’t choose the retiring governor’s wife in the primary, he said the district was too stupid to know what was good for them. Eat red dirt, Keating, we got John Sullivan instead of an education-establishment RINO rich lady.

[AmericaUnite]

It's all the NYers like my brother who moved there that's changed your state. I always laugh at the people moving south. I say when there's enough of them, they will demand the same services they got up here. Then up go your taxes.

[Adder]

I am suprised that Perdue won. I can see the straight ticket numbers which helped and also the large student/black turnouts in the major metro areas that went blue. I was concerned about the southern counties that went blue around Rockingham/Hamlet: I suppose it was the monolithic black vote?

Sorry...I don’t weep for Charlotte.

[CarolinaGOP]

"Bob Dole was from Kansas but I don't think he's been back since losing the '96 election. Liddy was from North Carolina, allegedly. The truth is that now both are from D.C.

Perhaps if they had actually spent some time here in the last six years, Mrs. Dole would have lasted more than one term!