Two liberal bloggers came the closest to predicting North Carolina's presidential race.

Nate Silver, a statistics nut who runs the Web site FiveThirtyEight.com, and Kirk Ross, who writes the Exile on Jones Street blog about the legislature, both predicted Barack Obama would win the state. Silver said by 0.6 percentage points; Ross by 0.5 to 1.5 points.

The actual margin, according to uncertified results from the State Board of Elections, was 0.3 points.

The two were among 16 bloggers, pundits, professors and consultants who predicted an Obama win in the Tar Heel state, according to an informal tally by Dome the week before the election.

Because of the narrow margin, the 13 who predicted a McCain win (including the Eight Ball) shouldn't be too ashamed, except maybe the four conservatives who predicted a win by three or more points — Sen. Richard Burr, Red State editor Erick Erickson, blogger Ed Morrissey and editor Fred Barnes.

And no points go to the five mainstream sources who refused to make a prediction (Rothenberg Political Report, Congressional Quarterly, Cook Political Report, New York Times and MSNBC.)

Richard Burr for vice president?

Burr, the U.S. senator from Winston-Salem, is starting to get some attention as it looks increasingly like Arizona Sen. John McCain will be the GOP nominee for president. That has led to plenty of speculation about where McCain might turn for a running mate.

Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard puts Burr high on his list:

Any number of prominent social conservatives have been suggested, including Republican senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Sam Brownback of Kansas. I suspect a better possibility is Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, a rising star among Republicans.

Fred Barnes, executive editor of “The Weekly Standard” and a frequent TV commentator, will deliver the lecture at the Founders Day Celebration at the Jesse Helms Center.

Barnes will speak at the Wingate University campus at 2 p.m. next Thursday.