North Carolina's politics have become nationalized.
Though Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spending time in the state, they are not giving speeches in tobacco warehouses or talking about guns.
A decade ago, candidates shifted their message and their tone to fit North Carolina's rural sensibilities. But shifting demographics have made the state more like the rest of the country, while the Internet has made it harder for candidates to localize their message.
"It's a totally different era," said Rufus Edmisten, former attorney general and Democratic nominee for governor in 1984. "Like it or not, we have lots of small, rural towns, but we're urbanized now. We're as sophisticated as any state in the union, and the campaigns reflect that."
Obama and Clinton are talking about jobs, health care and Iraq here, as they are in other states. (N&O)
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