2008-11-07 13:23:42
By MIKE BAKER and BARBARA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writers Mike Baker And
Barbara Rodriguez, Associated Press Writers Fri Nov 7, 12:37 am ET
RALEIGH, N.C. President-elect Obama won North Carolina on Thursday, a triumph
that underscored his political strength as he turned nine states that President
Bush won in 2004 to Democratic blue.
The Associated Press declared Obama the winner after canvassing counties in
North Carolina to determine the number of outstanding provisional ballots. That
survey found that there are not enough remaining ballots for Republican John
McCain to close a 13,693-vote deficit.
North Carolina's 15 electoral votes brings Obama's total to 364 nearly 100
more than necessary to win the White House to McCain's 162. Missouri is the
only state that remains too close to call, with McCain leading by several
thousand votes.
Obama's win in North Carolina was the first for a Democratic presidential
candidate since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976.
Of Bush's 2004 states, Obama captured Virginia, Florida and North Carolina in
the South, Ohio, Indiana and Iowa in the Midwest and Colorado, Nevada and New
Mexico in the West. All total, Obama has won 28 states and the District of
Columbia, McCain 21.
Obama ran an aggressive general election campaign in North Carolina after his
wide primary victory in the state over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested he
could win a trove of electoral votes that most assumed would belong to McCain.
The Obama campaign's focus on the state's two-week early voting period was
critical. Obama won more than 1.1 million early votes, giving him a
180,000-vote advantage heading into Election Day a gap too great for McCain
to overcome.
McCain spent months watching North Carolina from afar during the summer as
Obama visited regularly, but the GOP nominee returned to the state in the
campaign's final few weeks as polls suggested an Obama victory was possible.
Obama spent millions of televisions ads that were buttressed by hundreds of
staff members in dozens of offices to take advantage of North Carolina's
rapidly changing demographics and a large bloc of black voters galvanized by
his bid to become the first African-American president.
North Carolina's growing population includes a booming urban corridor from
Charlotte to Raleigh along Interstate 85, while retirees from northern states
who are more willing to vote for Democrats are filling the state's coast and
mountains.
Exit polls also showed that some 30 percent of voters considered race a factor
in their decision, with the numbers split evenly among voters who backed McCain
and Obama. Nearly one in five voters considered race an important factor.
The economy also played a role with 60 percent of voters considering it the
top issue, with those voters breaking slightly to Obama. The state's
manufacturing industry has been devastated by competitive imports, and the
state's banking economy centered in Charlotte was struck by economic turmoil
that led to the downfall of Wachovia Corp., in the weeks before Election Day.
Obama's win completed the party's sweep at the top of the North Carolina
ticket. Beverly Perdue was elected the state's first female governor, while Kay
Hagan unseated one of the GOP's most respected figures in Sen. Elizabeth Dole.