If you compare 2000 to 2004 for George W. Bush, North Carolina is one of only 3 states where his share of the vote went down (others being Vermont and South Dakota). Slight, but I wouldn't've bet on NC being the third worst state when compared to 2000. I don't believe Edwards had much to deal with it either. Non-Democrats in this state don't care for him.
Yeah, it went down .01 percent, but he got about 300,000 more votes than he did in 2000. Maybe Johnny helped bring him down that notch, but his slight drop doesn't mean anything. North Carolina isn't trending, all I know is I don't like Dole, and I hope she loses.