North Carolina poses uphill battle for Obama, though Charlotte is DNC host city

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
In Print: Sunday, June 17, 2012

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Preparations for the Democratic National Convention are humming along in this model city of the New South. But unlike their Republican counterparts in Tampa, Democratic organizers have a nagging distraction: constant second-guessing about the decision to put their convention in North Carolina.

Prominent union leaders decried rewarding the state, one of the nation's least friendly to organized labor. Major unions announced they would not help fund the event. In 2008, labor groups contributed more than $8 million to the Democratic Convention in Denver.

Then came North Carolina's vote last month to ban gay marriage. More than 28,000 people signed a petition to move the convention from Charlotte because of that vote, something that has no chance of happening.

Meanwhile, pundits have become increasingly skeptical about President Barack Obama's Tarheel State prospects. Just look at the trends: A Democratic governor, Beverly Perdue, so unpopular she opted not to seek a second term; Republicans taking control of the legislature for the first time in more than a century; a state Democratic Party in turmoil after its executive director resigned in a sexual harassment scandal and its beleaguered chairman refused calls to quit.

Not to mention John Edwards' former mistress, Charlotte resident Rielle Hunter, has a tell-all book coming out and presumably will be happy to chat with reporters in town for the big show. Or that Obama will accept the nomination Sept. 6 in the Bank of America Stadium, named after an institution that received a $45 billion bailout.

Awkward.

So did the Obama team blow it by picking Charlotte for their convention?

Read more here.