How much did female solidarity affect down-ballot races?

It's hard to quantify, but we know that Hillary Clinton drew a lot of women to the polls on Tuesday, despite losing to Barack Obama.

We also know that among low- to medium-information voters, one of the only things you can tell about a candidate from looking at the ballot is gender. (You cannot necessarily do the same with race.)

Looking at the dropoff in the down-ballot races, Dome noticed something of a natural experiment that might help quantify the effect of women voters.

The two partisan races with the biggest dropoff from the presidential race were insurance commissioner and labor commissioner. Coincidentally, one of those two races had no female candidates, while the other had two. (There were no women in the lieutenant governor's race as well.)

The dropoff was not as substantial in the races for state treasurer, state auditor and schools superintendent.

To pick the two that are most comparable, neither state auditor nor insurance commissioner are offices in which the average voter has a strong opinion. Both were two-person races without an incumbent. None of the candidates advertised heavily on television and all are relying on public financing.

But 1,253,251 people voted in the auditor's race, while only 1,223,609 voted in the insurance commissioner's race — a difference of 29,642 votes. That's a little less than 2 percent of the total Democratic voters.

Complicating factors: The incumbent auditor is a Republican who Democrats are eager to unseat. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin previously ran for statewide office and had a small TV ad buy. Ballot order may have affected voting rates.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the number of women in the labor commissioner's race. 

The Democratic presidential primary was the hot ticket last night.

The heated and historic race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama drew many voters to the polls who typically don't cast ballots in the primary and inspired some first-time voters.

But how many of them stuck around to vote in the other races?

Taking the presidential race as the high-water mark, we see that roughly 1.6 million people voted in the Democratic primary.

Nearly all of those stuck around for the governor's race. In the primary between Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue, 1.5 million voted, or 95 percent of the presidential voters.

After that, it gets interesting.

Nearly the same number of voters stuck around for the U.S. Senate race (85 percent) and the lieutenant governor's race (84 percent), or roughly 1.3 million votes.

The races for state treasurer (80 percent), state auditor (79 percent) and schools superintendent (79 percent) races, also did well, with roughly 1.3 million votes.

The numbers dropped off after that in the races for insurance commissioner (76 percent) and labor commissioner (76 percent), or roughly 1.2 million.

A record number of voters cast ballots Tuesday.

With 2,069,701 ballots cast — or 36 percent turnout — North Carolina beat the 1988 record of 953,759 or 31 percent turnout in a presidential primary. (N&O)

Turnout was driven by intense interest in the Democratic presidential primary, in which Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton, 56 to 42 percent. Obama gave a victory speech at Reynolds Coliseum, referencing a recent remark by Clinton on the campaign trail.

"They've been saying that North Carolina would be a game-changing state in this election," Obama said. "But what North Carolina decided is that the only game that needs changing is the one in Washington, D.C." (N&O)

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory will face off in the governor's race. (N&O) State Sen. Kay Hagan will face U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole. (N&O) State Sen. Walter Dalton will face state Sen. Robert Pittenger for lieutenant governor.

Beth Wood will face her former boss, state Auditor Les Merritt. Schools supperintendent June Atkinson will face former state Rep. Richard Morgan. And state Sen. Janet Cowell will face state Rep. Bill Daughtridge for treasurer.

There will be a runoff between Democratic labor commissioner candidates Mary Fant Donnan and John Brooks.

David Young will celebrate in Asheville.

The Democratic candidate for state treasurer will watch election night returns with family and friends at his house.

Beth Wood will celebrate at her parents' farm.

The Democratic candidate for state auditor will watch election returns with her family in Cove City.

June Atkinson will celebrate at the North Raleigh Hilton.

The Democratic candidate for superintendent of public instruction will watch election returns in suite 543 with family and supporters.

Eddie Davis will celebrate at his home.

The Democratic candidate for superintendent of public instruction will watch election returns with his family in Durham.

Eric H. Smith will celebrate in Reidsville.

The Republican candidate for superintendent of public instruction will watch election returns at his home with family and friends.

Election Day is in two weeks, and most voters don't have a clue who they like in most of the statewide contests.

According to a recent survey of 962 likely Democratic primary voters, the majority have not decided who to vote for in a handful of Council of State races.

The tally:

State Treasurer - 63 percent undecided.

State Auditor - 58 percent undecided.

Superintendent of Public Instruction - 52 percent undecided.

Insurance Commissioner - 66 percent undecided.

Labor Commissioner - 60 percent undecided.

The N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers endorsed Beth Wood.

The group's political action committee announced this week that it was backing Wood, a former employee of the state auditor's office, in her run for the Democratic nomination for auditor.

"Her experience in the State Auditor's office, coupled with her background as a CPA, make her the strongest choice for the job," said Todd Barlow, political affairs counsel for the group, in a statement.

Les Merritt is running a Google Ad on the state Department of Transportation.

Searches for "NC DOT" or "NC Department of Transportation" bring up this ad:

Auditor Merritt
The Taxpayers' Watchdog
Getting the Job Done
www.AuditorMerritt.com
North Carolina

Nine statewide candidates will accept public financing in their campaigns.

At a press conference held by N.C. Voters for Clean Elections outside the state Capitol today, nearly all of the three Republicans and six Democrats said that the financing program will make them less reliant on special interests.

The group includes two incumbents, Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson and Republican state Auditor Les Merritt. It also includes insurance commissioner candidate Wayne Goodwin, who said his 2004 campaign for labor commissioner was eye-opening.

"While candidates used to visit all the county seats across this great state and visit every courthouse sheriff and stop in to enjoy an RC Cola at a country store or go to umpteen barbecue rallies around the state, in 2004 I learned how campaigning had succumbed to the money chase," he said.

He said he spent up to eight hours a day, six days a week, calling donors.

The other participants include superintendent candidates Eddie Davis and Eric H. Smith, auditor candidates Beth Wood and Fred Aikens and insurance commissioner candidates John Odom and David Smith.

David Smith did not attend the rally due to a family emergency.

The folks at N.C. Voters for Clean Elections say that public financing of campaigns is catching on with several candidates for Council of State offices.

The group says that nine of the 11 candidates for state insurance commissioner, state auditor and superintendent of public instruction - the only offices eligible for the new state program - have said they intend to participate in the program. They will take part in a press conference Wednesday to discuss the program.

Under the program, candidates for those three offices can receive a grant to pay for their campaigns if they collect at least $29,000 in small donations from at least 750 registered voters, according to a release by NCVCE. They must also agree to spending and fundraising limits.

Beth Wood has her zinger down for the fall election.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for state auditor has some primary competition in Fred Aikens, but at the Young Democrats convention she tried out a line to use against incumbent Republican Les Merritt.

"The citizens of North Carolina don't need to settle for Les," she said.