[pointsal]

does Charlott lean left?

[Emile]

McCrory lost Mecklenburg County by about 400 votes. Perdue had considerable help from Obama coattails in the county, as O won the county by about 100K, and so did Kay Hagan, who took Elizabeth Dole’s Senate seat. A good part of this was due to straight-ticket voting. About 118,000 Dems voted this way in the county, to about 44,000 Repubs. Also, the Dem majority on the County Commission was increased as all 3 at-large candidates were swept into office. So, yes, Charlotte is trending blue. Much of the red has moved out to the suburbs in NC and SC, to get away from high taxes and bad schools.

[MitchellC]

does Charlotte lean left?

Unfortunately, it full-on tilts left as of this election. Blacks have been moving here in huge numbers (third biggest destination in the country) and they're all voting straight ticket. Obama won Mecklenburg County by 2-1, and this was after Bush won it over Gore and barely lost it to Kerry.

The author of this piece, Tara Servatius, has been going over the numbers this week on her nightly radio show and says she doesn't think Pat McCrory could even win re-election as mayor of Charlotte at this point. And that's after seven terms of easy wins. Whoever the next mayor is, they'll probably be a black Democrat.