Bladen County voters showed a preference for incumbents in Tuesday's general election, especially for Democrats.

In most cases, party loyalty made the difference locally. Although Bladen followed the state lead in going for President George Bush, less than 200 votes separated the Republican President and Democrat Sen. John Kerry locally. Statewide, the gap was much wider in favor of Bush.

Bladen also came out strongly for Erskine Bowles, with almost 1,500 more people voting for the Democrat than for Republican candidate Richard Burr.

Bowles, who also ran against Sen. Elizabeth Dole in 2002, defeated Burr locally, although the Republican won the seat. Bowles had 6,546 local votes to Burr's 5,051. Libertarian candidate Tom Bailey gathered 143 local votes.

Statewide, Burr won the seat with 1,737,523 votes to Bowles' 1,565,606. Bailey received 46,749 votes statewide.

Burr moves into the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Edwards. The senator, who ran as Kerry's vice presidential running mate, did not run for reelection.

Also getting a return nod from Bladen voters was Congressman Mike McIntyre. The veteran representative from Lumberton handily beat King's Mountain businessman Ken Plonk 9,637 to 1,951 locally.

Gov. Mike Easley kept the state's top executive chair, defeating Republican challenger Patrick Ballantine 1,850,369 to 1,458,768. Libertarian Barbara Howe took 50,4576 votes statewide.

Locally, Easley gathered almost twice as many votes as Ballantine, with 7,969 to Ballantine's 3,876 votes. Howe received 116 votes locally.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue also handily defeated her opponent, Republican Jim Snyder, with 8,008 votes locally and 1,821,119 statewide, with Jim Snyder gathering 3,134 locally and 1,417,804 statewide. Libertarian Christopher Cole received 149 votes locally and 54,921 statewide.

Several surprises were seen in the state cabinet races.

Secretary of Agriculture Britt Cobb appeared to be holding on to the post Thursday morning, despite a close race with Republican Steve Troxler.

While Troxler gathered 3,358 local votes to Cobb's 7,856, on the state level the two men were in a statistical dead heat Thursday morning, with Cobb pulling slightly ahead around 10 a.m. Cobb had 1,615,908 to Troxler's 1,611,331 votes Thursday morning, before provisional ballots were counted.

The agriculture commissioner race was just one that could be changed when the statewide canvass takes place Tuesday.

In the state auditor's race, incumbent Democrat Ralph Campbell, with 1,580,224 ballots, lost the post to Republican Les Merritt, with 1,616,906 votes. Locally Campbell had a nearly two to one margin over Merritt, with the Democrat leading 7,229 to 3,724.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Long handily won another term in that post, with 1,845,898 votes across the state and 8,345 locally to C. Robert Brawley's 1,380,318 and 2,978, respectively.

In the race for Labor Commissioner, Democrat Wayne Goodwin lost to incumbent Republican Cherie Berry, with Berry gathering 1,673,483 votes statewide to Goodwin's 1,520,044.

Locally, Goodwin may have benefited from straight ticket voting, with 6,989 votes to Berry's 3,971. Berry was the only Republican on the council of state before Tuesday's election.

Democrat Secretary of State Elaine Marshall also handily defeated Republican challenger Jay Rao both locally and statewide, with 1825,135 to Rao's 1,381,712 across North Carolina and 8,344 to 2,862 locally.

In the hotly contested race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Republican candidate Bill Fletcher leads the race going into the canvass, 1,601,730 to June Atkinson's 1,601,109.

Statistically, both candidates have 50 percent of the vote. Locally, Atkinson had a much clearer advantage, with 7,310 to Fletcher's 3,670.

In the state Treasurer's race, incumbent Democrat Richard Moore handily defeated Republican challenger Edward Meyer, 1,733,995 to 1,472,321 statewide, and 7,699 to 3,338 locally.

Also on the state level, all three constitutional amendments were approved.

Amendment One, allowing local governments to guarantee bonds for economic development without taxpayer's approval, passed locally 5,638 to 4,414 in the negative. Statewide the difference was much closer, with only two percent difference between the votes, 1,45,873 in favor and 1,377,578 against.

Amendment Two, which allows certain fines to be used for the benefit of school systems, was passed by a wide margin, with 79 percent of local voters approving it and 77 percent statewide favoring the motion.

Amendment Three, which allows a "probationary" period for newly appointed magistrates, shortening the first term to two years from four, was also approved. Locally, 71 percent of voters favored the measure, slightly higher than the statewide 68 percent average.

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