Washington Bureau

Bill Clinton’s (Unsuccessful?) North Carolina Tour

In the two months preceding the North Carolina presidential primary, Bill Clinton stumped for his wife in 53 towns in the state, and all but a handful were tiny, working class areas.

Polls showed Hillary Clinton closing the gap in the final week before the primary, based on support from white, working class voters in these little towns her husband stopped in. Sometimes, he hit six or seven in one day.

Pundits called Bill Clinton her secret weapon in rural North Carolina. She needed a monster showing with white, working class voters and her husband’s visits were supposed to drive her comeback, the pundits said.

Even Bill Clinton seemed convinced that his political pull had not faded over the last year, when many urban and educated Democrats abandoned him because of his attacks on Barack Obama. He sounded very self assured on the Sunday before the election when he told a crowd in Morganton, N.C. that, in other states, his wife did much better when he swung through town on her behalf.

“In every place I did a front porch rally, on Election Day, Hillary got more than 60 percent of the vote in those counties, So don’t break my string and embarrass me,” he told the crowd.

Well, Bill, consider yourself embarrassed. I went back and ran the numbers today. From March 21 to May 6, Bill stopped in towns in 43 counties in North Carolina. In only six counties did his wife get more than 60 percent of the vote. In fact, Obama won 23 of those counties to Clinton’s 20.

I did not go back and check the correlation between margin of victory and his campaign stops in other states, so I don’t know if his 60 percent streak boast was actually true.

Certainly some of the county losses in North Carolina can be explained by the fact that his tour included a few stops to large metro areas, which overwhelmingly went for Obama – Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Raleigh. But all but a small handful of his stops were in small towns, where he held the sort of front porch rallies he mentioned in the above quote.

The full breakdown is below, and includes the county, the vote split, and cities Bill Clinton visited in those counties.

--Sean Mussenden

Bill Clinton’s NC Tour ’08 – 53 Towns in 42 counties from March 21 until May 6.

Alamance County – 57-41 Obama
Elon

Buncombe County – 55-44 Obama
Asheville

Burke County -- 68-30 Obama
Morganton

Caldwell County – 68-28 Clinton
Lenoir

Cabarrus County – 51-47 Clinton
Kannapolis

Catawba County – 56-42 Clinton
Newton
Hickory

Columbus County – 58-38 Clinton
Whiteville

Craven County – 54-42 Obama
New Bern x 2

Cumberland County – 66-32 Obama
Hope Mills

Davidson County – 56-41 Clinton
Thomasville
Lexington

Durham County – 75-23 Obama
Durham

Edgecomb County – 68-30 Obama
Rocky Mount

Forsyth County – 67 – 32 Obama
Kernersville
Winston-Salem

Franklin County – 52-46 Obama
Louisburg

Gaston County – 53-45 Clinton
Gastonia

Guilford County – 68-30 Clinton
Greensboro
High Point

Halifax County – 60-37 Obama
Roanoke Rapids

Harnett County – 52-45 Clinton
Dunn
Lillington

Iredell County – 53-44 Clinton
Statesville

Johnston County – 53-44 Clinton
Smithfield

Lee County – 53-43 Clinton
Sanford

Lenoir County – 55-42 Obama
Deep Run

McDowell County – 71-25 Clinton
Marion

Mecklenburg County – 70-29 Obama
Charlotte
Huntersville

Nash County – 58-39 Obama
Rocky Mount

Onslow County – 49-47 Obama
Jacksonville x 2

Orange County – 70-29 Obama
Hillsborough

Pasquotank County – 63-34 Obama
Elizabeth City

Person County – 48-48 (Clinton won by 3 votes)
Roxboro

Pitt County – 60-38 Obama
Winterville

Randolph County – 62-34 Clinton
Asheboro

Rockingham County – 50-46 Clinton
Reidsville

Robeson County – 51-41 Clinton
Pembroke
Lumberton

Rowan County – 50-48 Obama
Salisbury

Surry County – 72-26 Clinton
Elkin
Mt. Airy

Scotland County – 55-41 Obama
Laurinburg

Union County – 50-48 Clinton
Monroe

Vance County – 61-36 Clinton
Henderson

Watauga County – 55-44 Obama
Boone

Wake County – 65-34 Obama
Apex
Cary
Raleigh
Zebulon

Wayne County – 58-38 Obama
Goldsboro

Wilkes County – 72-26 Clinton
North Wilkesboro

Wilson County – 62-36 Obama
Wilson
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