Dems lead early voting stats in North Carolina 44-38 percent

[WI_DEM]

North Carolina Total Ballots returned 174,760
Dem 44.0%
Lib 0.1%
Rep 38.4%
Ind 17.5%

http://elections.gmu.edu/early_vote_2010.html

[disillusioned73]

1. The only problem is..

how many of the Ind 17.5% are tea party nutbags??

[WI_DEM]

2. I thought that most independents were actually republicans.

[disillusioned73]

3. My thoughts exactly, That would give the R's an edge,

depending on how many of the Ind. lean "crazy" - I'd venture to guess more than half. 38% + 10% maybe, not good :(

[angee_is_mad]

7. Most Southern Independents tend 2 vote rethug

At least that is what I've experienced.

They just don't want the stigma of the southern republican party attached to them. I have a friend who is a registered independent. He has a MBA from Duke and runs a successful small business. 75% of the time he votes rethuglican. He did vote for Obama and Perdue. At least that's what he told me. I'm in NC , BTW.

That independent number I would give 65% of it to the rethugs which still puts us in pretty good shape.

[wishlist]

8. In my experience, many liberal younger voters think it's cooler to be Independent

I talk to a lot of my younger neighbors and family members who dislike bitter partisanship and do not want to be identified by a party, although they vote Democratic. They like to be thought of as cutting edge types who think for themselves and do not want to be labeled. Some are in professions and businesses where they do not want to publicly disclose party affiliation for fear of not getting contracts and where being seen as nonpartisan is a plus for them professionally, considering how vehement die hard Repubs and Dems can get. (I think they are chickenshit wimps though to not stand up for Dem values and instead avoid discussing politics openly and just claim to be independent as if that is a badge of honor)

I live in NC and talked to several young voters near the polls this week during our early voting.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Aren't You Assuming Folks Will Vote For The Party They Registered As

That is not always the case.

[struggle4progress]

5. Well, you know the old saying: it just ain't over until the fat lady

eats dessert

I don't know what the early turn-out numbers mean. I don't know how the D/R/I folk are actually voting. I don't know what will happen when the final count's done on 2 November

GOTV

[FBaggins]

6. That's actually way down from two years ago.

In some cases we ran a 3:1 advantage in the early voting.

Either way, NC isn't looking competitive any longer at the state level. What matters most now is how things are looking in the 8th (Kissel), 11th (Heath Shuler), 2nd and 7th (Ethridge and McIntyre). Only the 8th should have a significant chance of loss.

Of course, the state legislative races are important as well. From what I'm hearing, we're in danger of losing the state Senate for the first time since the 19th century. This would be a disaster, since they already hold the state House and redistricting is entirely a legislative role here.