Thursday, November 13, 2008

Presidential Election 2008 Redux #08


NCPRESRACE
Originally uploaded by Randuwa
North Carolina is the next to last state in this series that was taken out of the Republican column this time around and placed in the Democratic side of the leger.

And it is also the real "squeeker" of a victory in this election; Obama won by only point 4 tenths of a percent. And in a state like New Mexico that margin might have triggered an automatic chorus for recall, but in North Carolina with thrice the population, .4 % of the vote does equal 13,692 votes -- a number that actually exceeds the total voting populace in 28 of the 100 counties in the Tar Heel state on this past November 4th.

Where did the votes come from? 1) Urban areas across the state, 2) university and college towns, 3) African American population centers, and 4) military epicenters. The area around Fort Bragg went heavily for the Democratic ticket.

Given the closeness of the end result, the suppression of the strong Republican vote in at least 20 counties also helped to solidify this historic win. What dampened GOP spirits or convinced Republican voters to stay at home or vote Democratic will be the subject of some other soul's Ph. D., but certainly the lively Senatorial and Gubenatorial races didn't hurt. In the end BOTH down ticket candidates prevailed, too. Everywhere the Republicans seemed desperate, angry, spiteful, mean-spirited, and self-serving. How can such candidates expect to prevail?

What are the prospects of North Carolina remaining Blue? To quote the last Democratic Lion in the White House, "It's the Economy Stupid". IF, President Obama and his team can bring hope translated into relief, then Republican's can only hope that their party's biggest concern is whether or not "rename" themselves.

And so I give exception to all of my audacious hopes in Obama over to the precidence of restoring our sound economic footing. Perhaps, I have just articulated the essence of hope behind his victory in North Carolina.

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