The state has moved left Presidentialy (and ironically GOP on the State level as ticket splitting has ceased) since W, so I’d wager 7 at about the max or close to it. No way in hell 15.
It even gave W a lower % in 2004 than 2000 (VT and SD the only other states, ironically SD because of Dassole driving Indian turnout, Bush coattails sunk him but he lowered Bush’s %, math is crazy) by an eyelash 0.01% less, I’d be very curious to see what it would have been without Edwards on the ticket. Probably a very paltry increase.
We shall soon see the margin. And yes, I noted the slight decrease for Dubya in the state from ‘00 to ‘04, but again, I attribute that to Edwards’ presence on the ticket. There was also about 600k more voters to turn out, which just about spread evenly. I think Edwards was looking for a way out of running for the Senate again because he was in a cursed seat and his popularity there was always about a mile wide and an inch deep. Burr likely would’ve beaten him by a narrow margin.