Aceh Print

It's good to be a North Carolina voter today. The couple-mile drive to the polling station at the rural firehouse was in the middle of a glorious spring day, with leaves out on most of the trees and lush green grass; even the wait for the paving crew redoing our little state highway was pleasant. There's a friendly reception at the station, where only a couple other people were voting at 2:00, and the poll workers said lots of folks from our road have voted today too. There are lots of races on the ballot, at least statewide, and several interesting candidates to vote for. And, every time the phone rings the last couple days, it's Bill or Chelsea or Hillary herself on the other end. It's nice to be wanted. A few months ago it looked like this primary would have no meaning in the presidential race. How things change. ( Updated : Well, to be fair, there was one call from a candidate for state treasurer. But nothing from Barack, sob.)

A couple of months ago it was looking like there wouldn't be any point of voting in the North Carolina primary this year, since by voting day, May 6, the campaigning would have been wrapped up. But, not this year. Now it seems North Carolina's Democratic primary might decide the race . so I will have to think hard about who to vote for now. There's lots of interest, from this posting with links at the Rural Blog, about how the area's congressman, Heath Shuler , a former Edwards supporter who hasn't decided between the two remaining candidates, will have a big effect on the results with his superdelegate vote, to coverage by our local weekly paper of Bill Clinton's speech in Asheville this week. A reporter and photographer drove the 110 miles or so to Asheville to cover this first visit by a candidate or former president to Western NC in years. There's lots more interesting coverage on the Rural Blog , from the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community ...