[Darren McCarty]

Thanks for the map. I didn't know that went all the way to Fayetteville or Rocky Mount. Was that to get more black votes? (28%) I don't know much about North Carolina outside driving through and going to Charlotte and Statesville a couple of times. I looked at a quick map and saw it stick into Raleigh. It was an obvious Gerrymander.

[Darren McCarty]

I should add that I’m even more surprised that a Michigan transplant would win in the South. :)

[BelegStrongbow]

Darren, the idea was precisely to gather as much urban black vote as possible in what was a semi-rural district. The area is slowly urbanizing (my own county is a throwback, in some regards) but the area remains firmly conservative. Not doctrinaire, but nobody likes Obamacare, or cap and trade or business takeovers (especially). Etheridge used to hedge his bets and sensibly voted about 60% Dem, thus keeping the frog-water tepid. The last two years he turned the heat up full. Everybody noticed. He only got the urban, unionized and government vote.

You can tell exactly how big that fraction is by how close the vote was. When it’s a Federal holiday (which most working people here don’t get), the roads basically empty because all the teachers, bankers and gov’t types get to stay home. He played to that constituency and it wasn’t enough thank God. Now to make the thing at least a little square, cut exorbitant state spending, fire off about 20% of the govt workers and cut taxes. Those by themselves would lock in Pubbie govt around here for a good long time. Now that the folks have tasted toss-the-bums out, they’re not no loath to vote against Dems. That could turn into a habit.