Bellwether?

Early Voting in Forsyth County broke all previous records on Friday. Almost 100,000, compared to about 81,000 in 2008.

In Forsyth, about 18 percent of that grand total were unaffiliated.

Big difference in Watauga County, with unaffiliated voters actually out-performing Republicans in Early Voting ... first time that's happened that anyone remembers. The actual percentages of turn-out in Watauga based on party affiliation broke down this way (and talk about "neck-and-neck"!):

Democrats 33.43%
Republicans 32.45%
Unaffiliated 33.34%

Republicans improved their Early Voting performance substantially over 2008. The big question: Do the increased number of Rs turning out during Early Voting represent new voters, or do those early votes simply take away from E-Day turnout for Rs?