In a sign of how unpopular President Barack Obama is becoming in North Carolina, five North Carolina delegates did not show up to the Democratic National Convention to cast votes for Obama’s nomination.
North Carolina cast 152 votes for Obama, despite having been awarded 157 delegates to the convention.
North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman David Parker brushed off the missing votes and said the five missing votes merely reflected logistical mishaps.
Parker said some of the delegates missed a breakfast and he “tried to run them down” throughout the day but could not track them down by the time North Carolina delegates had to cast their votes.
Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC) is one North Carolina Democrat who has stayed away from the DNC even though his district is less than a mile from where the convention is taking place because being associated with Obama hurts his reelection chances. According to the Charlotte-Observer, Republican staffers offered to drive Kissell to the convention this week. In addition, Democrats could not fill Bank of America Stadium for Obama’s reelect, and moved Obama’s speech on Thursday back indoors to a smaller venue to avoid embarrassment.
And yet, Parker, the Democratic party chair in North Carolina, continued to downplay the fact that Democrats in North Carolina who were distancing themselves from Obama and the DNC reflected a lack of enthusiasm in North Carolina for Obama’s reelection.