Here's a map just for the actual results in North Carolina. The two Obama counties in Western NC are Asheville and the college town of Boone. Outside of that, the race breaks down more-or-less on white-black and urban-rural lines, with urban whites more likely to vote Obama and rural whites more likely to vote Clinton. To the east of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill you have part of the "black belt" that extends into Southern Virginia.
It's worth noting that Obama did much better in Western NC than he did in Southern Ohio, Western Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, etc. Part of this is due to an influx of retirees, but it does seem that Appalachian voters are at least slightly more receptive to voting for him now than they were earlier in the race.
I grew up in Western North Carolina (near Hayesville in Clay County, the second county from the left on the border with Georgia (where I live now) and it's a dang racist place. Obama is gonna have to work hard against the right to make much headway outside of the in-migrant communities (retirees, etc).
Posted by: MR. Bill | May 07, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Oh I don't think he can win there. But it may be offset by a huge increase in college educated voters from the RTP, etc.
I'm just pointing out that he lost Clay County 73-25, when he was losing similar counties in East TN, Western VA, something like 90-10. It's small progress, but it's progress.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | May 07, 2008 at 10:50 AM