Why did Carter do so well in Arkansas in 1976?

[Adlai Stevenson]

He defeated Ford 64%-34%, his biggest margin in the South outisde of Georgia.  I think it is odd considering his margins in Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma were much smaller, where he ran more or less even with Ford.  Relative to the rest of the South, the Arkansas result is strange.  Georgia was Carter's homestate but what reason did Arkansas have to especially love him? 

I know that Bill Clinton organised his campaign statewide and it could be a tribute to his organisational qualities.  Also, Arkansas seems like the kind of place Carter would play well in, like West Virginia.  Poor, mostly rural and less urban and middle-class than other Southern states.  Finally, if Carter was so strong there in 1976 why couldn't he win it in 1980?  His performance should mean that he could still carry it comfortably in 1980 but instead it was another Southern state that he ran very close to Reagan in.