NC 8: Presidential Race

Barack Obama 43
John McCain 39
Bob Barr 7

Barack Obama leads in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District, which George W. Bush won with 54% in both of his elections.

The 8th is the kind of place where Obama needs to have success if he's going to have any chance of winning North Carolina this fall. It's ancestrally Democratic but has trended Republican in recent federal elections. How it votes could be a bellwether for the state as a whole.

Obama is winning only 25% of the white vote in the district, but it's almost 30% African American and his 83% share of those voters gives him the overall lead. High black turnout, as well as support from the district's emerging Hispanic population, will be vital to his prospects here.

This is a district worth watching nationally this fall between its possibility of swinging from 2004 in the Presidential race, as well as its competitive Congressional battle.

Full results here.