Data suggest North Carolina is turning blue--good news!

[mnhtnbb]

From the Raleigh News & Observer this a.m.:
http://www.newsobserver.com/674/story/534880.html


Is N.C. turning blue?

North Carolina may be regarded as a red state, but it is trending Democratic in congressional races, and not just because Democrat Heath Shuler defeated Republican incumbent Charles Taylor in November.

Tar Heel voters cast 53 percent of their total votes for Democrats in the 13 congressional districts in November, according to figures compiled by Hotline, a Washington-based political newsletter.

It would be easy to dismiss the strong Democratic showing as an aberration, but that is how the votes had been trending.

In 2000, Democrats won only 44 percent of the vote. By 2004 that had risen to 48.9 percent, according to the Hotline.

But North Carolina still remains slightly more Republican that the rest of the nation. When all the congressional votes are added up nationally, Democrats carried 54 percent in 2006.

The Democrats hold a 7-6 advantage in North Carolina's delegation to the House.



There are a lot of people who want to discount Edwards, claiming he couldn't take NC. I think this bodes well for the Edwards camp.
The demographics are changing in North Carolina. We have a very progressive Chairman of the Dem party--Jerry Meeks, (whom Edwards didn't support when he ran) who rose up from the grassroots out of the Deaniac network.

Even Liddy Dole might be in trouble. There are reports that she's thinking about backing away from Bush on the Iraq war escalation,
and that has got to be good news regarding her vulnerability in the 08 election. The State Dems are working hard to find someone to put up against her--and if they find the right mix of experience, leadership
abilities, and political views, I think you could see Liddy Dole retired from her Senate seat!

What's the word in other red states, DU'ers? Similar trends?

[demnan]

1. Hi from your neighbor just to the North

Virginia has been moving into the blue camp gradually. We have large areas of red but a few metropolitan areas are blue. Small progressive college towns in Virginia are also trending blue (our Charlottesville is much like your Ashville).

Incidently, when I traveled through Ashville last fall I noticed the explosion of Heath Shuler signs in a little neighborhood in Ashville where I took a wrong turn. It made me feel at home, even though I was lost. :)

[mnhtnbb]

2. Come to Chapel Hill, sometime. Our county went 66% for Kerry/Edwards!

[Parisle]

3. Virginia is definitely trending blue,....... for good, too

--- The old guard is simply dying off. The NOVA and Hampton Roads-Norfolk areas see a lot of folks moving in from all over. Virginia's transformation is a permanent one.

[KingFlorez]

4. This one should be high on the list of target states

2006 sort of boosted the trend toward Democrats and we should strike while the iron is hot. This could be a Southern state we can turn blue, along with Virginia if we play our cards right.

[kestrel91316]

5. Over the past few years I have lost several Los Angeles clients to

the Chapel Hill area. No big surprise here............

[mnhtnbb]

7. We left Santa Monica in 1988--but it took us until 2000 to end up in Chapel Hill

[Imagevision]

6. Before Bush is through he will be turning the country Blue - if not purple!!

Part of the Bush leagacy