One of the many surprises of Election Night was that the Obama-Biden ticket won North Carolina. They didn't win it by much. The McCain-Palin ticket got 2,128,462 votes in that state while the Democratic slate received 2,142,625. By contrast, in 2004, Bush got 56% of the vote to Kerry's 44%, almost the same margin by which Bush beat Gore there in 2000. Before that, Bill Clinton lost the state twice in narrower contests.
So how is it that Barack Obama won this time there? We could probably name many reasons having to do with the economy and the war…and those reasons would all be valid. But I'd like to suggest one other that may have contributed to that 14K vote margin. That reason is Andy Griffith.
Andy Griffith is a sainted figure to some in North Carolina. I don't know if it's still the case — the shows are out on DVD and there could be some oversaturation — but not long ago, The Andy Griffith Show was rerunning eighty thousand times a day in that state. You could tune in at any hour and catch the one were Gomer places Barney under citizen arrest or the one where Aunt Bea entered the pickle-making contest or some other classic. Actors who were on that series, even once or twice, have literally made their retirement incomes by appearing at events in North Carolina to sell autographed photos. That's how revered Mayberry is to the folks down there.
Andy's been a longtime Democrat but the video he did with Ron Howard was one of the few times he's gone public over something like this. A friend of mine in that state says it was big news that may not have swayed any of the die-hards but carried considerable weight with many on the fence. If Sheriff Andy said it was jes' fine to vote for that Barack Obama fella, it was jes' fine. And of course in landing the valuable endorsement of Sheriff Andy Taylor, Obama also got the support of Ben Matlock.
We'll never know how much impact that little video had. I'm not even sure how many people ever saw it or heard about it. But I'll bet it got Obama some votes in that state that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten…maybe even 14,000 of 'em.