Will this bring North Carolina into the Democrat Column

[surfermaw]

Unemployment Rates in the Catawba Valley




Area 20000 2001 2002 2003 Change 2000-3


Unifour 2.5% 6.8 % 8.8 % 8.6 % 244 %


Alexander County 2.3 % 6.4 % 7.9% 7.8 % 239 %


Burke Co. 3.1 % 6.7 % 8.1 % 7.9 % 1.55 %


Caldwell Co. 2.4 % 7.1 % 8.9 % 9.5 % 296 %


Catawba Co. 2.1 % 6.8 % 9.4 % 8.6 % 310 %


Source N.C.Employment Security Commission


Look what a Republican can do for you in just four years, and that is put half the people out of work.....

[Taeger]

1. Only if ...

Only if

1) Edwards is the nominee

OR

2) Democrats link there troubles with NAFTA/WTO and promise to end it. This is the way to win back Congress!!!!!!

[lastknowngood]

2. If unemployment was 100% it wood still go red

give it up we will win no southern states especially with Kerry.

[BR_Parkway]

3. I doubt it - Jesse was endorsing Richard Burr the other day

and his first basis was "your a good Christian"

As long as you have that in your resume in NC, nothing else seems to matter here as far as getting elected - and the faithful still cling to Jesse for all that tobacco pork he generated for all those years.

In all fairness, I have respect for Jesse Helms as a politician about one thing that I can't say about many others - you ALWAYS knew where he stood, and he didn't waffle on his opinions according to the latest polls. Even though I disagreed w/ 80% of what he stood for, we could really use more principled politicians like that again.

[leyton]

4. I wish.

But I doubt it. Other Southern states would be more likely to go (AK, LA, WV). Edwards might carry NC (although again I think his chances are better in other Southern states because there's no resentment there) but I don't think the economy will provide the spark to throw it to the Democratic ticket.

I wonder, though... NC has a high military population (we have two military bases). If casualties rise, and the economy remains stagnant, NC could turn blue. (Those aren't things we should be hoping for though.) Even if they don't, if Kerry is the nominee, he should look into campaigning here because of his military background.

[Virgil]

5. I do not see how

The gay marriage thing and the old abortion issue will pull them out in droves knowing that God calls them on.

[surfermaw]

6. We are going to carry some of the southern states,

I am hearing something that I haven't heard in my fifty years in North Carolina, some old time republicans saying they are going to vote Democrat, and some saying they are thinking on the matter. I think that is going to be the story all over the south, well maybe not Georgia.

[swinney]

7. Job Loss--sounds like Alamance County NC

Bad. Gone forever. Wal-Mart busy.