Not many. Edwards isn't very popular in NC. He'd probably would have finished a distant third if he had been in the race. I think he was polling third before he dropped out.
Edwards was routinely up modestly here when he was a viable second-tier candidate, and held his own even after he collapsed. He was generally polling ahead of Obama at the end of last year. Realistically, that part was never meant to last.
But he did keep it a three-way contest, even though it was an outside shot. At the close of January, he was still polling above 20%. Obama and Clinton splitting the vote heavily, he wouln't have finished all that far behind the first-place winner. If he was actually a viable first-tier candidate, he would have probably walked away with the state.
