A new Public Policy Polling survey shows the race for president in North Carolina holding fairly steady with McCain up by single digits and Bob Barr taking a solid chunk of the electorate.

Interestingly, Barr takes equally from Republicans and Democrats , although one suspects that the Democrats who would vote for Barr would never vote for Obama anyway. Barr takes 12% of independents.

Obama's clear weak spot here is among his own party base. While he wins independents by 12%, Obama is winning Dems by just 67-20, whereas McCain is winning Republicans by 83-6. Paging Bill and Hillary Clinton...

And this from PPP's blog points to a reason that North Carolina is likely to become bluer and bluer as time goes on.

Barack Obama leads 46-40 among those surveyed who were born in a place other than North Carolina. John McCain has the 49-36 advantage with natives of the state. As more and more people come to North Carolina from other places, it could trend more Democratic in national elections.

Unfortunately, Key Hagan is not performing as strongly against Elizabeth Dole in PPP's poll as Obama is against McCain as Dole continues to expand her lead to double digits and above 50%.

One bright spot for Hagan is the major upside of having Obama at the top of the ticket.

From PPP's blog:

One of the biggest red flags for Hagan is difficulty in securing the black vote. Right now she leads Dole just 52-28 with them, and the 20% of African American voters who report being undecided is higher than almost any other demographic. Hagan will have to significantly improve her standing there to have any chance this fall.

Dole's strength among African-American voters is unlikely to stick once Obama begins actively campaigning in the state, one suspects, with Hagan. This is one state where Obama's coattails are going to be unmistakeable, even if he loses the state.

Help Kay Hagan out over at our Road To 60 Act Blue page.