But it really is playing out as a battleground. Witness the woman in the Fayetteville restaurant who shouted “Socialist. Get out of here.” (or words to that effect) to Obama when he and some staffers entered the restaurant. [Where were her manners? That is simply not acceptable to say to a major party candidate for President, no matter how one feels. But I digress.] Witness also the bear found shot, buried under Obama posters, at Western Carolina University. And the list goes on.

The cities in NC — Charlotte, the Triad area, the Triangle area — have made some great strides in race relations. Each of the major cities has a strong and healthy middle class. The smaller towns and the rural areas, however, show a stark contrast between the wealthy and the poor. The poor aren’t always black by any means, but the poor whites identify more with the wealthy folks than they do with their neighbors.

It’s hard to tell how this will all turn out in NC. It’s clear that the veneer of gentility usually evident within the state has been scratched raw in many places. Further, the state has quite history of some really nasty politics and political ads, many of which have focused on racial issues in the past.

Top that with Obama’s extensive and incredible ground game, the dissatisfactioin with Republicans in general and McCain/Palin in particular, and the media narratives, and I can’t see a legitimate source for victory for McCain in NC at all.