Durham County NC is NC's most Democratic urban county. Base voter registration is about 150,000. It voted 65% to 33% for Gore in 2000. Here are some comparison voter registraton numbers for the last three election cycles that will amaze. The last 3 weeks of voter registration for 2000 and 2002 have been omitted to allow a direct comparison with 2004 which had three weeks of registration left as of 9/15.
Note the changes in not only the volume but also the shift in partisan affiliation.
NEW VOTER REGISTRATION IN DURHAM COUNTY 2000 VS 2002 VS 2004
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01/01/2000---09/15/2000
TOTAL 7975
D 3839 48.1%
R 1872 23.5%
U 2226 27.9%
L 38 0.4%
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01/01/2002-09/15/2002
TOTAL 7320
D 3910 53.4%
R 1584 21.6%
U 1784 24.4%
L 42 0.6%
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01/01-2004-09/15/2004
TOTAL 18048
D 10639 58.9%
R 2671 14.8%
U 4672 25.9%
L 66 0.4%