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Even though I've transplanted myself to Oregon and wouldn't mind if the primary got all the way here.
My own experience in NC politics was what ultimately drove me from the state. Years back, Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt ran against Jesse Helms. The Right struggled throughout the campaign--they had no dirt on the guy, who had enjoyed a stellar career. They pulled out all the stops on election night. Polling machines breaking down (only in NC's heaviest African-American counties), people were being turned away from the polls. While our lawyer pals were getting judges to keep polling places open, we were contacting would-be voters, driving out to their homes, and driving them to their polling places. Helms' thugs, meanwhile, were parked across the street in Durham, and every time we sent a car out to pick up a voter, they would also send a car out to chase us. They drove erratically, screaming obscenities and even racial epithets, and when we arrived at voters' homes they jumped out and started screaming at the voters that we were lying, the polling places were closing, etc. etc. I had never been so agitated or disgusted in my entire life. Makes me sick thinking about it, all these years later.
My dad is still involved in NC politics in western NC, and he has the same kinds of stories.
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