Some context regarding N.C. upcoming primary

This Fayeteville Observer story puts the upcoming N.C. Democratic presidential primary in a little context, and quotes former Asheville Mayor Leni Sitnick:

Not since 1976 has North Carolina played such a prominent role in presidential politics.

That year, a group of campaign workers and writers listened as Walter Cronkite announced Ronald Reagan’s victory over President Gerald Ford in the state’s Republican primary.

While Ford got the nomination, the Tar Heel victory saved Reagan’s presidential aspirations for another day. Historians say Reagan would have left politics had he not won North Carolina.

That same year, the Old South, represented by segregationist icon George Wallace, and the New South of Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, clashed in the state’s Democratic primary.

Wallace’s North Carolina campaign ended with a speech to more than 1,200 residents at the Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium.

When announcers gave Carter the victory, a Wallace campaign worker muttered, “One primary a president don’t make.”

The loss ended Wallace’s national political career.

Thirty-two years later, North Carolina Democratic voters face another historic choice — do they want a black man or a woman to be president?

The issues are much the same as 1976; the economy, energy, even race.

That North Carolina is in presidential play after an absence of more than three decades is creating its own buzz. Most assumed the state’s May 6 primary would come long after a nominee was decided.

“It’s a lot of fun for people like me, the political junkie,” said Richard Kearney of the School of Public and International Affairs at N.C. State University.

The attention means much political theater, headlined by appearances by Obama, Hillary Clinton and their entourages.

The candidates’ scripts may be more than most people are used to.

Leni Sitnick is a former Asheville mayor who has worked on presidential campaigns.

“I think that unlike other times, this is a very intelligent campaign by two very intelligent people,” she said. “When you have that, the people really focus on the issues. What’s the problem. What’s the Challenge. What’s the solution.”

Obama started the show, beginning the campaign where Wallace exited, in Fayetteville.

But is the state really in play? Can one primary really make a candidate?

Polls show Clinton and Obama are almost even in North Carolina. Splitting the state’s 119 pledged delegates won’t get them any closer to the nomination.

Either would have to win at least 60 percent of the vote to make headway.

But symbolically, North Carolina means everything, observers say.

The state has become a microcosm of the country — strong urban and rural centers, pockets of affluence and poverty, places to ski and surf, a racially diverse population, and an economy that spans from high tech to the most basic of manual labor.

No longer do candidates seeking votes in North Carolina have to pander to special interests such as tobacco or textiles.

“North Carolina has converged with the national economy, and we are now converging politically,” said Ferrel Guillory of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.