North Carolina Heats Up as Battleground State

North Carolina finds itself in the unfamiliar role of being a battleground state late in the presidential campaign season.

For the past 30 years the state has been firmly in the hands of the Republican party. Even in the presidential election of 2004 with former North Carolina senator John Edwards on the Democratic ticket, the state when solidly for George Bush and voted in a Republican senator to replace John Edwards.

The most recent polls in the sate find the race for president a dead heat. The Real Clear Politics poll shows senator Obama with a sight lead of 47.9% to McCain's 46.7%. This spread is said to be within the margin of error for the sample size taken.

Other indications in the state also suggest a strong surge toward senator Obama. Voter response to local call-in talk shows heavily favor Obama as do political letters published in local newspapers.One informal measure that I found to be an accurate barometer of voter sentiment in past elections is the number of political signs displayed in front of homes in various neighborhoods. During a recent count of several neighborhoods of varied ethnic, racial and political backgrounds I found these signs to favor Obama by a 7 to 5 ratio.

While the state has frequently elected Republican presidents it is a state in which a large majority of registered voters are Democrats. Most Governors are elected as Democrats and the state often splits its' senatorial representation between Democrats and Republicans. It is no surprise then that the Democratic party sees North Carolina as a an opportunity to convert a 'red' state, 'blue'.

The Democratic party has actively campaigned in the state through grass roots organization and voter registration and by massive campaign spending. Television political ads began shortly after the Democratic convention and now appear on the half hour between every prime time show. It is very obvious to even the most casual watcher of television in the state that the Obama campaign has devoted huge financial resources to political TV spots. Most of these are unanswered by the McCain campaign as it appears that the McCain camp hasn't the financial resources to match those of senator Obama.

In early polling McCain had a comfortable lead over senator Obama in the state. Perhaps this explains his failure to campaign here during the first half of the year. While McCain has been absent from the state for months the Obama campaign has blanketed the state. Senator MCcain's first visit to the state was last week while either senator Obama, senator Biden and/or Michelle Obama have been in the state weekly since the Democratic convention.

It appears that John McCain may have taken the state electoral votes for granted or felt it necessary to devote his efforts to larger or other battleground states. Now with the polls leaning towards senator Obama the state is receiving attention from the McCain camp. In just the past two weeks Sarah Palin has conducted rallies in Greenville, and John McCain conducted a well attended rally in Wilmington.

Both senator McCain and Governor Palin have campaign rallies scheduled in the state next week. It will interesting to see if this belated attention can help turn the tide for the McCain campaign.