What people who do not live in NC forget is that the last time it went Democrat before 2008 was 1976 when a Southern Baptist peanut farmer from Georgia narrowly beat Gerald Ford to take the state. The Democrats usually held sway on a local level and even in the governorship, but Republicans often prevailed in National elections. Consider that Jesse Helms was a US Senator from NC for 20 years. Liddy Dole was also a Republican Senator from NC. She would probably have served at least one more term had not Kay Hagan (a weak candidate whose claim to fame was that she was the niece of former Florida Governor Lawton Chiles) had the good fortune to run against her in 2008 when Barak Obama was running for POTUS. Most of the state is fairly conservative, except for the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte areas.
half of Maryland has moved to the Triangle
Charlotte used to be a pretty good place up until the mid 90s or so.
Yup - although CLT is more conservative than RDU. I live just over the NC/SC border and its heavy conservative here.