N.C. looking blue, and we're not talking basketball -- May go Democratic for the first time since 1976

The AP reports that Democrats believe they may carry the state in a presidential election for the first time since 1976.

George W. Bush carried [North Carolina with] more than 62 percent of the vote in the 2000 presidential election.

Though Republican Elizabeth Dole took over Jesse Helms' longtime Senate seat last year, Democrat Erskine Bowles is the favorite to succeed Edwards.

[A]s is true across the South, Democrats here tend to be more conservative than their counterparts in other regions, resulting in a heavy crossover vote in presidential elections. Southerners Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter are the only Democratic presidential candidates to put up any kind of fight in the state over the past 40 years.