NORTH CAROLINA | 15 Electoral Votes |
After Kerry named Sen. John
Edwards as his running mate, it really appeared that North Carolina was
in play. Not only did Edwards add the North Carolina connection,
but the state had been hit hard by outsourcing in the textile and manufacturing
sectors. Kerry seemed to be doing well among veterans, who form a
significant group in the state; according to the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs more than 767,000 veterans live in the North Carolina. The
Democrats had also received significant exposure earlier in the year from
the presidential primary in neighboring South Carolina. This generated
free media statewide as well as bleedover in the Western part of the state
from all the primary advertising. In short Democrats thought they
could win North Carolina. The theory was if they could stay within
five points through October, Edwards could visit frequently to seal the
deal. Then came the Swift Boat ads. "Once that hit we were
doomed," said a Democratic operative who worked on the campaign in North
Carolina. "We couldn't recover." Not only did the ads hurt
among the veterans; but convincing them the war was a mistake and called
for a change in leadership was a difficult task. "People didn't want
to hear that the war was wrong," said the Democratic staffer.
Bush-Cheney '04 | Kerry-Edwards 2004 |
Organization details... | details... |
BC'04 Exec.
Director: Jonathan Felts
Republican Party of North
Carolina
|
KE
State Director: Morgan Jackson
Coordinated Campaign Director: Jessica Vanden Berg North Carolina Democratic
Party
|
Travel
BUSH-CHENEY | KERRY-EDWARDS |
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Newspaper Endorsements
BUSH
The Enterprise-Record [Mocksville] |
KERRY
News & Observer [Raleigh] (10/24/04) Asheville Citizen Times (10/24/04) Daily Advance [Elizabeth City] (10/24/04) > The Pilot [Southern Pines] (10/20/04) Charlotte Observer (10/17/04) Greenville Daily Reflector (10/17/04) Star-News [Wilmington] News & Record [Greensboro] |
Third Party and Independent
Ballot Access
Nader. North
Carolina is one of the most difficult states for ballot access. To
gain status as an Independent candidate Nader needed to submit 99,439 valid
signatures by July 20, 2004, or he could have created a new party and collected
51,904 valid signatures by June 10, 2004. The campaign did not succeed.
It did submit the required 500 signatures to ensure that its write in votes
were counted.
Coordinators
Nader - Simon Demory.
University of North Carolina, Charlotte campus coordinator - Kristin Rothrock.
More Visits
NADER
March 25, 2004-Speaks
at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. (Nader spoke of forming
Populist Party. The visit was part of a tour of states with difficult
ballot access requirements).
BADNARIK
July 3, 2004-Fundraising
dinner with gubernatorial candidate Barbara Howe at Café Parizade
in Durham.
July 4, 2004-With
Barbara Howe, speaks at "Second Amendment/Free Speech Rally for Independence
Day" at Mace Sporting Goods in Mebane.
Copyright © 2005
Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.
NCVeteransforKerry.org |