364…. For those keeping track of such things, Barack Obama has also won North Carolina.
President-elect Barack Obama has won North Carolina, adding 15 electoral votes to his wide victory and a symbolic triumph in a state that hadn’t voted for a Democrat in more than a generation.
The Associated Press declared Obama the winner Thursday after canvassing counties in North Carolina to determine the number of outstanding provisional ballots.
That survey found there are not enough remaining ballots for Republican candidate John McCain to close a 13,693 vote deficit.
Adding North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes brings Obama’s total to 364, with Missouri still to be decided. The 364 total represents 67% of the available votes.
North Carolina had not supported a Democratic candidate in 32 years, with Bush having carried it by 12 points in 2004, and 13 points in 2000.
For that matter, I had the same thought Eric Kleefeld did about the historical significance of this particular electoral win: “[W]e apparently now have the state that sent Jesse Helms to the Senate for 30 years, and re-elected him to his final term just 12 years ago, voting for an African-American candidate for president.”
