Suburban Voters Help Barack Obama in North Carolina

Sen. Barack Obama's success in North Carolina appears to be attributable, in part, to his robust performance in suburban counties that voted heavily for President George Bush in 2004. Current returns show John McCain leading Obama only 50 to 49 percent.

As expected, Mecklenburg County, which is home to Charlotte, the state's largest city, is tipping Democratic in the early returns. The counties surrounding it, which Republicans won handily in 2004, are still going red.

But Obama is significantly outperforming Sen. John Kerry's 2004 showing in many of these Republican areas.

For example: Gaston County, to the west of Charlotte, went to Bush by a roughly 70-to-30 margin in the last election. This year, the margins have narrowed significantly. With a vast majority of precincts reporting, McCain is leading Obama in Gaston County by only a 60-to-40 split.

A similar trend is taking hold in Union County to the southeast.

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