NC and FL in election

[Miles]

North Carolina is becoming more moderate due to influences from around the country and the slow but steady "trickle-down" effect that has leeched from from the Northeast and is taking VA and NC along for the ride.

Also, NC is becoming less rural and more cosmopolitan.

[Miles]

It's also worth noting that Obama didn't do so horrible in the mountain counties of NC. He won a few and was competitive in others. Cross the state line south of Highlands into the North Georgia mountains and Obama was clobbered. Obama didn't crack 30% in a single county in North Georgia, despite being culturally similar to western North Carolina. You might even say that Obama's unusual strength in a region he should not have been competitive in actually won him North Carolina.

I get Obama winning counties like Buncombe, home of Asheville, but can anyone explain to me how he was competitive in the more rural mountain counties?

The whites in North Carolina were never as polarized as in other southern states.

Southeastern NC is still pretty racially polarized; Obama performed very poorly there compared to Hagan and Perdue.