I worked Monday and Tuesday in Orange Co. I had a great time. I enjoy getting out and meeting everyone on both sides. There was one obnoxious Dem working at my poll. I expect he is whistling a different tune today.
On the negative side:
I'm really disappointed at the turnout in my precinct. I also think the Republican party in NC is failing. We've got to get better and do better. I'm in liberal territory, so maybe my view is skewed. I have not looked at the data, but my impression is that we can thank the unaffiliated voters and crossover Dems for helping us with Bush and Burr. I don’t think we won those two on Republican or conservative strength.
jw
Hell yes it's skewed. Out West here in Transylvania County, we had a sixty-eight percent turnout, and the Republicans swept every single office by a large margin. Bush won with 61% of the vote. That other candidate whose name I have already forgotten only got a girly 38%. Badnarik got 1%, and Nader got a grand total of 15 write-in votes.
From president to county supervisor, dog catcher and everything in between the Republicans won by humiliating (to the RATS) margins.
Republican turnout was either (a) atrocious or (b) low because of deliberate understaffing of heavy Republican precincts which caused long lines in the morning, thereby discouraging Republicans or (c)decreased, because of polls showing Bush would easily win.
I agree with snopercod that the Republicans did indeed turn out in historic numbers.
But, in the end, you've got to remember that NC doesn't have that many Republicans to turn out--we're still a Democrat state, just as much of the South is. Whenever a new Democrat pops up, he still has an instant advantage as long as he's a native. It's very hard for those lifelong Democrats to accept that the party they grew up with has totally changed at all levels, so they're clinging to the good ole Southern Democrat they miss.
The fact that Bowles, a popular native Democrat, got beaten at all (2000 doesn't count because of Dole's celebrity status) is a big sign of progress in itself.
We've got to work on not only creating Bush voters, but on creating Republican voters in general.
(BTW, I love Transylvania. I've seen a few of your white squirrels... beautiful!)