Mayberry

I was pleasantly surprised by this AP article, discussing NC's role in the primary process, which managed to go something like 20 paragraphs without cliche:

Not since 1988 has North Carolina had much of a voice in choosing a presidential nominee. Back then, it joined several Southern states to help pick Al Gore, a neighbor from Tennessee.

But the longer-than-expected race between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination will thrust the state into the national spotlight when it has its say on May 6. Indiana also votes that day.

. . .

North Carolina has roughly 9 million people, making it the nation's 10th largest state. It is home to the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune and the Army's Fort Bragg, two massive installations whose troops have suffered heavy losses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What's left of a once vibrant manufacturing and textile industry is in tatters. Many voters blame the North American Free Trade Agreement, agreed to under President Clinton, for the decline and the thousands of job losses that followed.

The state's largest city, Charlotte, has become an international financial center as home of Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp., the nation's leading retail and consumer banks.

It's high-tech economy, led by the many companies with facilities based at Research Triangle Park outside Raleigh, have withstood the national economic downturn. Home values have not suffered the same widespread decline as in other states, and North Carolina's income tax revenues remain strong compared with others.

Then i read this:

In the race for governor, a fictional sheriff could be a political heavyweight.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue on Wednesday introduced a television ad featuring Andy Griffith endorsing Perdue's bid for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Griffith, who played the sheriff of the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry in "The Andy Griffith Show," touts Perdue's vision, strength and honesty. He mentions her endorsements from various groups, including, "of course, sheriffs."

"Oh, you're going to be a goooood governor," Griffith coos to Perdue in the ad.

. . .

"Andy Griffith is a North Carolina icon, somebody people can relate to," Perdue spokesman David Kochman said.

Make it stop.