Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Perdue won Meck by 2 votes per precinct

For those who thought Democrat Bev Perdue wouldn't do well in Mecklenburg, where Republican Pat McCrory won seven terms as Charlotte mayor, here's the answer: She did run over the mayor, but she barely beat him with 49.04% of the vote --198,631 in all -- to McCrory's 48.94% of the vote -- 198,246. It was a grand total of a 385-vote edge for Perdue. With 195 precincts in Mecklenburg, that's a difference of less than 2 votes per precinct.
It's a reminder that a Democratic candidate can do well in Mecklenburg -- but other Democrats did a lot better. Barack Obama won 61.8 percent of the vote in the presidential race and Kay Hagon won 61.6 percent, with a 100,000 vote cushion over their opponents.
Maybe one difference was Perdue's Eastern N.C. ads critical of the Charlotte mayor and suggesting the big-city folks couldn't understand rural needs. Or maybe it was reflective of the struggle Perdue had in a number of places to persuade voters she deserved to be governor.
Still, fans of ACC basketball understand this: blowout or a narrow in, a W is still a W and counts just as much in the final standings.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe she won more from the updraft of Obama; McCrory was obviously the stronger canidate... but doesn't matter if people blindly do straight party ticket. It was still a rather close race, so Bev should thank her lucky stars; but should be mindful that if she doesn't perform well and/or keep promises, she may not be so lucky come 2012.

Anonymous said...

"She did NOT run over the mayor, but she barely beat him...."

Still, a huge blow to the Meck GOP....

JAT

Anonymous said...

it was obvious from watching the results coming into NCDOE and other county b of es', that this race was a classic coattails race. Mccrory outclassed bev in the debates, and clearly showed a great ability to lead this state to a greater good. His problem, was the NC Dem machine's impressive voter reg, and the early voting,(which i favor) and since the parties job is to get its candidates elected they achieved their mission. The sad fact that people don't always educate themselves and consider spliting their tickets is shameful and irresponsible. I think that their was clearly an explotation of the minority communinties that sincerely wanted to cast an obama (who i voted for as well and fully support) for president, but wouldn 't know bev purdue from the late frank purdue. Even more sad, is purdue's discontent for the charlotte and mech co area's concerns. She has a lot to live up to, but as lt gov, she was inept, and uneffective. As the taxes of so many of those who voted for her will not change or go up, understand, that you have only yourselves to blame, with a complete demorcatically run state. Sadly in NC, we know what 8 years of this kinda control produced. One of the highest gas taxes in the country, (used as surplus) and one of highest business and personal income taxes. You can only blame the federal government so much, real change will comes from your counties and state leadership. In my county, we are trying to attract major business, but our state tax is a deterent, and status-quo bev, hasn't got a clue. Thank godness i will get a tax break from president obama(who i support) to help pay for my NC state taxes, which are bound to only go up. congrats straight party dems you deserve what you get from your state leadership, and you won't be able to blame pat mccrory for that will you? yes i am reg repubican, but i split my ticket, educated myself, and voted for the best candidate. I voted for more democrats by a 2:1 margin as well, including my home US congressman, because he was ineffective and cost this area jobs. Will all you new voters be there in 2010 for the midterm, or 2012, or will the thrill be gone, and you will only complain about your problems instead of trying to solve them. I challenge you to prove me wrong in 2010, and if you do we all win...

Anonymous said...

I do not understand why there is ever a "STRAIGHT" vote offered on a ballot. You should be educating yourself throughout the LONG campaign season (21 months I believe was this campaign). I did not not vote a straight ticket, and never have. I vote for the person that is running for each and every position. Just because you like the Democratic presidential candidate does not mean that the Democratic Senator or Governor deserved or earned that seat. I split my vote. Yes, I voted for McCrory. Some people just got so excited this year because of the PRESIDENTIAL candidate that it was just so much EASIER to vote a straight ticket. Why watch and learn about the subjects and the candidates when you can watch stupid shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. One other complaint: More debates are necessary. Three were not enough for the presidential seat, and certainly every candidate from a county seat to a Senator, should be obligated to debate and it is the television stations that should be REQUIRED to have them televised for the entire state to watch. I'm sure they made mega-millions on the advertisement that each channel from WSOC, WCNC, CNN, etc., are counting the dollars and having a celebration for the money they made during this campaign. At least they aren't going to need to borrow money from the taxpayers like AIG and all the others that are going broke with OUR money.

I'd love to know the percentage of people that voted that actually took the time to learn about ALL the candidates running - not just Barack Obama.