Happy super, duper, tsunami, colossal Tuesday
The day on which the most delegates to the Republican and Democratic convention are at play is largely a spectator occasion here in North Carolina. North Carolina won't hold our presidential primary until May 6.
For those looking to mark up their own personal Super Tuesday score cards, you could do worse then Dan Balz's "8 Questions Super Tuesday Could Answer" at the Washington Post.
(For those looking to geek out on delegate counts, check out the NY Times' Republican and Democratic Super Tuesday breakdowns.)
The answer to Balz's second question, "What Constitutes Victory?" is different between the Republicans and Democrats but also different for North Carolina.
For the Tar Heel state, we want to see some deadlock, indecision, pandemonium. If McCain, as predicted, can come out of Super Tuesday with a convincing lead, the Republican nomination fight will start winding down. Ditto if either Clinton or Obama manages to come away with something resembling a win.
If the nominations are both settled by May, the candidates will have nothing to play for here and will likely bypass the state entirely.
And because North Carolina usually gets lumped into the "red state" column early on in the General Election, whoever is playing in the General Election will, by and large, pass us by.
That means the issues and concerns particular to one of the 10 largest states in the union will, by and large, be ignored.
Deadlock, however, on either side would guarantee at least a little attention being focused here...not to mention some fun for scruffy media types and political junkies.