Obama Wins North Carolina

It is now announced two days after voters cast their ballots that President Elect Barack Obama has won North Carolina. The state's 15 electoral votes bring Obama’s total electoral victory votes up to 364, while McCain stands with 162. Obama's slender lead has increased a bit over the last few hours bringing the totals to Obama with 49.9% and McCain with 49.5%.

Twelve electoral votes are yet to be counted, 11 from Missouri and one from Nebraska. Although Missouri is still too close to call by some estimates, Obama's great margin showed he didn't need Missouri or North Carolina to declare him the winner on Tuesday night. What stands out in North Carolina is that Obama was able to change the makeup of this traditionally conservative state and persuade its voters to go vote early. Early voting in North Carolina played a huge role for Obama, where he won early voters by 178,000 votes, yet actually lost on Election Day by 165,000 votes.

Most of Obama's victory in North Carolina came in the states seven urban areas. Obama wone about 35% of the white vote and the black vote increased from 2004 by 3.5%. In total, Obama's voters were one-third black and two-thirds white.

Obama's win in North Carolina, along with his victories in Florida and Virginia, gives him three southern states in his column. He is the first non Southern Democrat to win the presidential election since John F. Kennedy in 1960. Also, the Democrats won Indiana and Virginia for the first time since 1964. Even Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, who were both from the south, were never able to accomplish what Obama has.