What's the difference between S. Carolina and N. Carolina?

[FlyingSquirrel]

I've heard a lot of people being somewhat disrespectful toward John Edwards because he is supposedly "way behind in his own home state".

But unless I'm terribly mistaken, his own home state is NORTH Carolina, which doesn't have its primary till May 6.

The most recent poll in NORTH Carolina (Clinton 31%, Edwards 26%, Obama 24%) has him trailing Hillary Clinton by 5 points and beating Barack Obama by 2 points, with 12% saying "Other" - the poll numbers were released December 3, long before Biden, Dodd and Richardson dropped out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_Democratic_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_primaries%2C_2008#North_Carolina

Does this change anything regarding the fact that he is not doing well in SOUTH Carolina? Aren't they two distinct states? Could I get some info perhaps from those who live in NC and SC? And yes, I know that Kerry didn't win NORTH Carolina in 2004 either but since Edwards wasn't the one running I don't see how this should be an issue either. He did do better in NC than SC; maybe Edwards helped in that regard.

Edit: One thing I know for sure about these two states is that NC has 15 Electoral Votes to SC's 8.

[Captain Hilts]

1. He was born in SC and he should do better in his home state. nt

[FlyingSquirrel]

6. I'm not buying that argument. Is Connecticut GWB's "home state"?

"Edwards was born on June 10, 1953 to Wallace Reid Edwards and Catharine Juanita "Bobbie" Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. The family moved several times during Edwards' childhood, eventually settling in Robbins, North Carolina, where his father worked as a textile mill floor worker, eventually promoted to supervisor; his mother had a roadside antique finishing business and then worked as a postal letter carrier when his father left his job.<2>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edwards

So if you are born in one state, but your family moves to a different state while you are still a child, the first state should somehow give a damn that you were born there? When basically you've lived most of your life in the new state? And your Senate career was in the other state?

Not making much sense to me.

George W. Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut but was raised in Texas. By the above standard he should have carried Connecticut in 2000 and 2004.

[Captain Hilts]

15. I meant NC as his 'home state'. I was not clear. nt

[Tweed]

17. What about the argument that he won South Carolina

last time 45%-30%-10%, Edwards-Kerry-Sharpton?

I agree it's somewhat lame to talk about someone's birth state if they are long distanced, but clearly alot of people were fans of Edwards in 2004 and have since moved on.

[FlyingSquirrel]

19. Well, sure they have.

They had a choice between a white male from North Carolina, a white male from Massachusetts, and an African-American fringe candidate with very little chance.

Now they have a choice between a white male from North Carolina; versus a white female from Arkansas and an African-American male from Illinois, both with very GOOD chance.

The dynamics have completely changed. It doesn't mean they don't like Edwards.

[BlackVelvet04]

2. If I remember correctly.....

he was born in South Carolina and now lives in North Carolina, so I guess each could be called his home state.

Yes, they are two separate states.

[MedleyMisty]

3. NC rocks

SC is a vast wasteland. So yeah, they're different. ;) (The wasteland was a joke and South Carolina people rock too really.)

[hootinholler]

4. OPQR? n/t

[lonestarnot]

5. 5 letters.

[Catbird]

9. Actually only 2 letters S/N and U/R nt/

[supernova]

7. North Carolina is generally less conservative than S Carolina

S Carolina is pretty solidly red except for Charleston and Greenville (college town)

NC has several liberal areas spread throughout the state that keep it rather moderate to liberal.

[EFerrari]

11. South Carolina, I read today, has the biggest block of black Democratic

voters. I didn't know that.

[FlyingSquirrel]

13. Then it would make sense, perhaps, for Obama to be beating JE

in SC, since it really isn't Edwards' home state - just his birth state? Should the fact that JE was born in SC, but moved during his childhood, somehow be trumping Barack Obama among the large bloc of African-American voters? I don't see how it would play a major role.

[EFerrari]

14. It doesn't make sense to me in that context. I'm working up

a little OP on SC in the Election Reform forum. It's not done but there is some demographic info there:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x493832

[Captain Hilts]

16. Yes, it does, actually. nt

[blindpig]

21. Boy are you wrong

Greenville a college town? Furman and Bob Jones? Greenville is probably the most solidly Republican area in the state, of the Chamber of Commerce type. Maybe you're mixed up with Columbia, USC and a significant Dem suburban presence. The counties in the neighborhood of the Charleston/Florence axis are largely black and Jim Clyburn's home turf.

[supernova]

22. You're right

I was thinking of Columbia.

D'oh! :dunce:

[Lint Head]

8. I was born 15 miles from where John Edwards was born.

Seneca, South Carolina. I know the area well. My relatives still live there. I also worked in textile mill as a teenager with my father as he did. My father has since passed away. The situation was the same. My dad worked his way up to manager and got me a summer job there. The work was extremely hard and partly responsible for his death. I lived on a 'mill hill' for a while just like John Edwards. The joke is, NC is a second rate SC. Kinda like Oklahoma is a second rate Texas. :dem:

[Catbird]

10. Shape

South Carolina is a pleasing and compact roughly triangular shape.

North Carolina is too long and skinny.

[FlyingSquirrel]

12. Some people like Long & Skinny over Short & Squat ;-)

[Catbird]

23. In the immortal words of Tom Lehrer --

When correctly viewed, everything is lewd --
and will lead to a discussion more appropriate to the lounge.

More seriously, it takes a long long time to drive from one end of North Carolina to the other. It's a tedious trip. It's a tedious trip even if you start in the middle.

[HPULiberal]

18. From someone that knows both states well...

South Carolina is in general much more conservative than North Carolina. I grew up in SC and now have lived in NC for most of four years now for college. While the large African-American vote gives Democrats some chance in local elections, the white vote is about 75 percent throughout the state. If one city is more liberal than the others I would have to go with Columbia. The most conservative area is the northwestern region known as the Upstate, where the Greenville-Spartanburg metro area does not have the same base of black voters the rest of the state has. Clemson in the same region might possibly be the most right-wing college town in the nation.

In North Carolina, there are three major metro areas. The largest, Charlotte, has some liberals in the city and a large African-American population. The suburubs however are very conservative, and went for Bush by a nearly 2 to 1 margin in 2004. The Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) is perhaps the most liberal region of the South. Durham has a large African-American base, a college educated community, much of whom are Northern transplants, and as a result is overwhelmingly Democrat. Chapel Hill is also a very liberal college town. Raleigh leans blue, but Wake County is unfortunately brought down by Raleigh's wealthy suburbs such as Cary where corporate interests dominate. In the Triad, Greensboro is solidly Democrat, but the rest of the area with the exception of some black neighborhoods in Winston-Salem and High Point are solid Republican. Eastern NC is similar politically to SC, in that a large black constituency exists but whites vote overwhelming Republican. Western NC has a liberal community in Asheville but is deep red in the rest of the mountains.

I think that the reason Edwards is struggling in SC is because the black vote is going for either Obama or Hillary. His struggles in NC are surprising, but the primary is one of the ten last I believe so it likely will not matter.

[mmonk]

20. He has lived most of his life in North Carolina.

He was born in South Carolina. Politically, South Carolina has more red in a color coded map.