SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. And people are voting in South Carolina today in the critical Republican presidential primary. What a week - Rick Perry bowed out, Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucus that was held almost three weeks ago and there's been a late surge in the polls by Newt Gingrich. The winner of today's primary could solidify the race or raise new questions about who might win the nomination. South Carolina voters may have a pivotal role in narrowing the field of Republican candidates today. But when it's over, the solidly Republican state won't get much attention - it's simply not worth the time or money of Democratic presidential hopefuls. North Carolina, on the other hand, could fall either way and the Obama campaign is already digging in, which brings us to the Charlotte region, which straddles both states and now leads a kind of double life in politics. From member station WFAE, Julie Rose explains.
JULIE ROSE, BYLINE: At the moment, Mimi Barrios is like a kid stuck outside a candy store, her nose pressed longingly against the glass.
MIMI BARRIOS: I live here on the state line. I was actually thinking of crossing over and maybe seeing one of the speeches that one of the candidates might do.
ROSE: Not that it would get her any closer to South Carolina's tantalizing Republican primary. She'd like Rick Santorum to win, but her home is a few yards too far north to help him out. As a North Carolina voter, Barrios' crack at the Republican field won't come until May. By then, the party's pick will pretty much be made - just like it was in 2008.
BARRIOS: Because I was really strong on Huckabee. And by the time it was for us to vote, Huckabee had dropped out.
ROSE: Now, plenty of voters in states with late primary elections feel the same irrelevance, but very few live close enough to toss a rock into an early voting state. If Barrios did, she'd hit Gwen Doster's house.
GWEN DOSTER: I mean that line - our driveway is a state line. On the left side going out is North Carolina.
ROSE: The gravel driveway parallels a private pond and pasture for Doster's horses. She may live in South Carolina, but she's a North Carolinian at heart. That's where she was raised. That's where she shops and worked until retiring last year.
DOSTER: My husband jokes with me that it's, whenever my car goes out of the driveway it always goes north. But we're just so close.
ROSE: When people ask, Doster says she lives in the Charlotte area. Rarely does she think about the invisible line that officially puts her in South Carolina, but she's glad of it this year. She likes Newt Gingrich, but thinks Mitt Romney has a better chance at beating President Obama - and that's her priority in the Republican primary. She'll sure be glad when the robocalls stop, though. So will her South Carolina neighbor Anne Lisk.
ANNE LISK: Last night we had nine - nine calls. And I'm like, you know, and it's not even a real person. I have an important message for you from Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. And I'm thinking, yeah, you have a real important message - you just interrupted my cross-stitch. Would you leave me alone for a few minutes?
ROSE: Lisk says she's a Republican with liberal leanings. Ron Paul is her choice, but if he doesn't win the Republican nomination, Lisk will vote for Barack Obama in November. And that puts her in a frustrating spot too, because no matter how she votes, South Carolina is virtually guaranteed to go Republican for president. But if Lisk lived just a block further north, she'd be smack in the middle of the action. President Obama barely won North Carolina in 2008 and has staked it out for 2012. The Democrats even picked Charlotte for their national convention.
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: By choosing Charlotte, we sent a strong message that President Obama and Democrats will not cede any ground in 2012.
ROSE: That's Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Charlotte this week. Anne Lisk would love to help the Obama campaign hang on to North Carolina, but her hands are tied by that invisible state line. What can you do?
LISK: Other than run my mouth, not a whole lot. Not a whole lot.
ROSE: She'll have plenty of opportunities for that, at least. The campaign speeches and TV ads will have barely ended in South Carolina before they kick into high gear just across the border. For NPR News, I'm Julie Rose in South - I mean North - Carolina.