Ferrel Guillory says the "Seaboard South" is different.

The head of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill says that Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida have moved away from the rest of the South in recent years.

He said the increased focus on high-tech jobs in Research Triangle Park and banking in Charlotte as well as the strengthening of the state's university system has led to a demographic shift that made the state more open to Democrat Barack Obama.

"Economically and demographically, the South has split in two," he said. "The 'Seaboard South' states — with the exception of South Carolina — have been growing robustly. They have moved more speedily into the newer economy and their metropolitan areas are burgeoning."

He said Obama found a pool of "persuadable voters" in the metro suburbs of North Carolina.

"Obama campaigned on a theme of change, but it was the change that was already here that put him over the top," he said.

Guillory made a similar argument in the biannual "State of the South" report in 2007.

Punishment? What punishment?

Remember back in January when South Carolina bucked Republican Party rules and scooted its primary up earlier to maintain its first-in-the-South status? The hammer came down. The Palmetto State's convention delegation was cut in half.

"We understand the penalties," state GOP chair Katon Dawson said during a delegation breakfast earlier this week, Mark Johnson reports.

They also understand the payoff.  South Carolina handed U.S. Sen. John McCain an essential early victory for his march to the nomination, something it couldn't have done without moving the primary. In return, S.C. delegates have been housed in the same hotel as McCain and his staff, along with another state that provided a key early win, New Hampshire. Even McCain's home state delegation from Arizona isn't in the hotel.

South Carolina enjoys prime real estate on the convention floor near the stage, and their daily breakfasts have been peppered with A-list speakers: Cindy McCain, Rudy Giuliani and McCain campaign manager Rick Davis among others.

So, yes, it's safe to say that South Carolina Republicans learned their lesson.

John Shelton Reed says the Southeast is a concept, not a region.

The retired UNC-Chapel Hill sociology professor said that the Southeastern United States is a loosely defined "post-historical region" centered around Atlanta.

"It's an economy; it's not a culture," he said. "You talk about Southern music and Southern cooking and Southern women. You don't talk about Southeastern music and cooking and women."

As a general rule, Reed said the boundaries do not necessarily follow state borders, but he would use the Mississippi River as the dividing line between the Southeast and the Southwest and the usual borders between the North and South.

That would include: Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

It would leave out Arkansas and Louisiana. He said West Virginia would be a borderline case.

"These boundaries are kind of indistinct," he said. "You don't cross a border, you sort of move into it gradually."

Hat Tip: awbeal 

Who needs the federal government? We've got football.

Though the U.S. Census Bureau does not define the Southeastern region in its reports, another major — more important? — agency does: The Southeastern Conference.

The college athletic conference headquartered in Alabama has its own roster of states it considers to be in the Southeast:

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

It does not include North Carolina or Virginia, which are part of the Atlantic Coast Conference but are undoubtedly in the Southeast. It also skips West Virginia, a borderline case.

The definition is important because a recent political ad compares tax rates in the Southeast, which obviously differ depending on which states you include.

How do you define the Southeast?

We here at Dome headquarters have been poring over some tax data this morning as part of a fact-check, and we came across this interesting epistemological problem.

The general consensus of our group of reporters was that it includes the following states:

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

We did not include West Virginia, but the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis does in its regional breakdowns. That means a number of other groups, such as the Tax Foundation, also use it.

The U.S. Census Bureau does not define the Southeast.  

COLUMBIA, S.C.—A day before the South Carolina primary, the Hillary Clinton campaign went after John Edwards with a critical robo call into Democratic households.

"They did robo calls last night, because we were coming up so much they needed to knock us down," said Joe Trippi, Edwards' chief campaign strateigst, reports Rob Christensen. "I don't know if you can expect much more out of the Clintons."

"Before you vote on Saturday, you should know that John Edwards voted for permanent trade relations with China," said the Clinton call.

"That's right, John Edwards voted for the bill that cost thousands of jobs like the ones in the textile mills he talks about so much down here You should also know that John Edwards made nearly a half a million dollars working for a Wall Street investment fund. A fund that's been profiting on foreclosing on the homes of families; including 100 homes right here in South Carolina. That's according to The State newspaper. Here in South Carolina, Edwards says he's one of us, but up on Wall Street he was just another one of them. Can you trust John Edwards?"

John Edwards continues to be on the rise in South Carolina, at least according to the Zogby poll.

The latest numbers from the Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll show that the gap between Edwards and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to narrow as Democratic voters prepare to go to the polls tomorrow.

The latest numbers, from a tracking poll of 811 likely Democratic voters conducted Jan. 22-24, show Clinton at 25 percent and Edwards at 21 percent. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama continues to be out front with 38 percent.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

GREENWOOD, S.C.—John Edwards delivers a birthday cake to a member of the traveling press aboard the press bus on Thursday. (Robert Willett)

ANDERSON, S.C.—Conservatives have sometimes complained that John Edwards has received favorable treatment from the news media.

But in the closing days of the South Carolina primary, the Edwards campaign has been accusing the national news media of ignoring Edwards, and is asking voters to send them a message, Rob Christensen reports.

Ben Jones, a former Congressman from Georgia who played Cooter on the old TV series "Dukes of Hazzard" has been particularly outspoken. (Jones, a native of Tarboro, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.)

In introducing Edwards around the state, Jones suggests that the major media outlets are removing Edwards from the story because they are owned by big corporations who don't like his populist message.

"When they take a good man like John Edwards and remove him from the story—it's wrong," Jones said in Seneca.

In Greenwood, Jones says that Edwards will not be defeated by NBC or the Wall Street Journal.

Edwards is more careful in his comments. But he does note that former President Bill Clinton is getting more attention from the media than he is.

What Edwards does not say is that if were winning some primaries or caucuses he would be getting more attention.

SENECA, S.C.—Traveling with John Edwards campaign this week in South Carolina was actress Madeleine Stowe.

"Who?" said one woman in the crowd in Seneca, S.C.

But others recognized her from such movies as "Last of the Mohicans," where she starred with Daniel Day-Lewis. As she explains to questioners, she was the daughter in the movie who was not killed by hostile Indians.

The 49-year old actress said she was first impressed with Edwards when he wanted to challenge the Ohio voting during the 2004 presidential campaign. But Edwards, who was the vice presidential running mate, was overruled by Sen. John Kerry, the presidential candidate.

"This is one tough son-of-a-gun," said Stowe who splits her time, along with her family, between Los Angeles and Texas.

As the temperatures grew chillier Thursday at a rally at a fire station in Anderson, Stowe told one firefighter that she was cold and asked that he wrap his arms around her to keep her warm. The firefighter complied.