Under the Dome reports that political analyst Charlie Cook said at Elon University yesterday that:

Obama’s extensive field operation in North Carolina will bring a higher percentage of young voters and black voters to the polls who will support other Democrats on the ballot, regardless of how closely tied the candidates are to Obama.

“While they’re in the neighborhood, they’ll probably pull the donkey’s tail,” he said.

One problem: They have to pull two tails.

North Carolina is the only state where you have to mark the ballot twice to vote a straight ticket: once for President and once for the rest.

Sound like a Republican plot? No, it was a Democratic plot.

Back in the 1970s – remember George McGovern? – North Carolina Democrats were cutting their boats loose from the sinking national ship. So they came up with the split ballot.

This year they’re trying to put it back together.

Precinct officials are supposed to instruct all voters that voting a straight ticket means voting twice. In other words, it’s up to the competence and motivation of volunteers at 3,000-plus voting places.

It may not be as easy at Cook thinks – or Bev Perdue and Kay Hagan hope.

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