Farewell to purple

摘要

In november Mitt Romney edged out Barack Obama in North Carolina by 92,004 of the roughly 4.5m votes cast. Four years earlier, Mr Obama defeated John McCain by 14,177 of the roughly 4.3m votes cast. Of North Carolina's six most recent governors, three were Democrats and three Republicans. For years, the state has had one United States senator from each party. It has been a quintessentially purple state, a mix of Republican red and Democratic blue. But now, for the first time in more than a century, North Carolina has a Republican governor, a conservative majority on the state Supreme Court and Republicans controlling both legislative chambers.