Suddenly, North Carolina mattered.
North Carolinians knew it. For the first time in a long time, a May primary was more than an afterthought, and voters were serious.
In the last few weeks, they haven't been distracted by the spotlight or the sight of a presidential candidate in their diner.
A British actor in the morning chill outside Myers Park High School got just a few double takes.
Simon Woods can't vote in this country. Yet there he was, before 8 a.m. wearing his Hillary Clinton pin and handing out stickers.
Voters might have recognized the 27-year-old, who played Gaius Octavian Caesar in HBO's "Rome." He attended Oxford with Chelsea Clinton and got to know her family. He said he found Hillary Clinton to be "compassionate, principled and dedicated."
"People don't necessarily see that," he said.
Woods has been knocking on doors, standing on roadsides through Iowa, Texas, Nevada, California, New York, South Carolina and here because new leadership matters to the world, he said.
Engaged celebrities barely got a second look from voters focused on issues of their own.
It took a while for Omar Anthony to decide to press the button for Barack Obama. After casting his vote at Myers Park High, Anthony, 34, felt good about it. "Our country can use a change" after the Bush era.
He was torn between candidates but got turned off by Hillary Clinton's attacks.
In the governor's race, Anthony voted for Bev Perdue. But he may switch parties in the general election if Pat McCrory wins the GOP nomination. "I think he's done a great job for the city of Charlotte."
Anthony, who works for a law firm in the mailroom, said he's concerned about gas prices, "everyone's issue," and the falling value of the U.S. dollar.
That's what matters to him.
Since he's a registered Republican, you would think that Matt Joyner of Charlotte felt a little left out on election day, with all the Democratic drama.
He said he told his daughter that if he were a Democrat he would vote for Obama. "The change he represents is more valuable than what Hillary Clinton represents," he said.
However, Joyner is strong in his support for John McCain. "The country would benefit from having somebody who was a Vietnam War veteran as a president," he said.
Having that "good man" at the top matters to him.
For, Karol King, 43, of Charlotte, it's the price of gas and helping the unemployed get jobs. She was laid off from her medical-insurance billing job in November. She voted for Obama. "Hillary did a good job the last time she was president. It's time to see what somebody else can do."
Today, the show moves on. But in North Carolina, voters played their part.
They mattered.
