I spent some time in the woods this past weekend. For me, the time spent in the woods was achingly short -- and the drive was arduously long.
I escaped the suburbs of Raleigh, NC, and met up with my friends in the small, western North Carolina town of Sylva -- and yes, small is an understatement. Oh, and you can leave out the Deliverance jokes -- it's where the thing was filmed, actually. After everyone had gathered, we left Sylva and headed for Panthertown Valley.
Camping isn't the main reason for this diary, however - although I'll pepper this entry with some photos to add a little flavour. Rather, you'll find below my first-hand, albeit anecdotal, evidence of a strong grassroots Obama movement in North Carolina.
Now, regarding the drive... I'm not complaining too much. It had been a long time since I'd gotten to go camping, and perhaps even longer since I'd last seen some of those with whom I camped. Nonetheless, about 24 hours of camping was bookended by four and a half of driving, each way. It gave me an opportunity to do some thinking and some general observation. A little bit more on that later.
One of the conversations I had, on the way back from the woods, was with a friend of mine, a doctor in these parts, smart guy and somewhat left-leaning, but not particularly political nor politically-minded. We talked about the election a bit, and I mentioned that I thought NC might look good for Obama. Possibility of under-polling when it came to African-Americans, and other things that are well-known around the left-leaning segments of the web, and so on. I asked him what he'd seen in these parts, concerning the election.
He told me that he'd been somewhat surprised -- he'd seen quite a bit more Obama support out there, in terms of signs and bumper stickers. "The Obamamaniacs are really out there." He paused, as if to clarify, "I mean, there's definitely much more enthusiasm out here amongst Obama supporters. They're all-out." He suggested that the enthusiasm amongst Obama supporters might just set him over the top in NC. Again, ideas that some of us have already seriously considered.
In any case, I took that to mind, and I thought back to my drive into Sylva. As I returned home, I decided to take an even closer look.
Now, just as a refresher, here's how NC went in 2004, courtesy Wikipedia:
Furthermore, per CNN, this is the breakdown of each of those candidate's respective levels of strength by county.
Most of the trip across the state was on Interstate 40. One of the most heavily travelled highways in the state, it travels east to west, and cuts across all the different geographic and cultural regions of the state. I've superimposed my approximate route onto the previous image, below.
What I want to bring to your attention are those red and blue dots. Those are approximate spots along my route, to or from Western NC, where I saw either Obama or McCain political bumperstickers or signs.
No, your eyes are not deceiving you; you've not been blinded by the amazing beauty of Panthertown that decorates this article. No, along my route I saw nine Obama bumper stickers. As for McCain, I saw one yard sign heading out of town, but no more support anywhere until I was returning home, about an hour outside Raleigh. In fact, I saw a "Huckabee" sticker before finally seeing something supporting McCain!
Now take a look again, at where along those this route those were found. Not clustered simply near the major urban areas such as Wake and Durham counties, nor the Triad, nor Asheville. No, I spotted the Obama stickers right through the reddest of western NC counties.
My friend has noted the Obama groundswell in his part of the state; I saw evidence of support through my whole trip, further bolstered by the glaring lack of support for McCain. Again, this is largely anecdote, but, does anyone still think North Carolina is safe McCain country?
I'll end this diary with one more photo.
That's a shot from the Salt Rock overlook in Panthertown, with Big Green Mountain off in the distance. With a little bit of luck and a continued effort to get out the vote, those skies won't be the only thing blue in North Carolina, come November.
Panthertown Valley photos courtesy Kevin L. Donihe