Barnes: N. Carolina Offers GOP Blueprint

While there’s no question that Republicans went home disappointed on Nov. 6, there’s also no denying that the GOP had something to celebrate in Arkansas and North Carolina — two states that President Obama won in 2008 but lost in 2012, writes Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard and a Fox News commentator in The Wall Street Journal.

GOP consultant Marc Rotterman was quoted as saying that while he is reticent to describe North Carolina as a reliably red state, the party is positioned to be the dominant party in North Carolina for at least a decade if not beyond."

The GOP was not only victorious in the North Carolina gubernatorial race, but also picked up veto-proof majorities in the state Senate and House, according to Barnes.

In all, the party controls 54 of the state's 100 counties and picked up three new U.S. House seats, as well as a pivotal seat on the state Supreme Court.

Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling described the Democratic Party in North Carolina as "broken" and leaderless, according to Barnes, who noted that former four-term Gov. Jim Hunt remains active and the party's longtime alliance with big business is weakened but not dead.

In The Natural State, Arkansans handed the GOP its second best finish of Election Day 2012 as well as an opportunity to unseat an incumbent Democratic Senator in 2012, which is also the case in The Tar Heel State.

Barnes reports that the Democratic Party barely exists in Arkansas with the loss of the Clinton political machine.

The GOP not only took control of the state legislature in Arkansas but it also picked up the last Democratic-held seat in Congress, according to Barnes.