After the accident, the state asked owners to inspect their decks. In Lexington, the city then used its own inspectors to examine decks where owners hadn't complied. The city ordered three owners to make repairs.

"We had a duty to protect the public," said David Jarvis, the city's code enforcement director.

Four days after a portion of a SouthPark area office building's parking deck collapsed, unanswered questions remain: Why did the 21-year-old deck collapse when no cars apparently struck it? Are other decks in the area vulnerable?

Mecklenburg building officials, however, say they won't act as Lexington did in examining other decks.

"Parking deck owners in Mecklenburg can check their decks any time they please," wrote county spokesman Bill Carroll in an e-mail to the Observer. "If they find a problem or suspect one, they can call us and we'd send out an inspector right away."

The county isn't participating in the investigation at 6100 Fairview Road. That probe is being conducted by the deck's owner and property manager, CB Richard Ellis, who said a preliminary report on the collapse could be released early next week.

No one hurt

No one was hurt in Tuesday's accident at 8:22 a.m., in which a portion of the fourth floor of the deck collapsed through the third floor, before resting on the second floor. Firefighters at the collapse were amazed that no people or cars were in the collapse area.When the deck opened in 1987, the county inspected it and awarded it a certificate of occupancy. But all records for the deck have been destroyed because the state doesn't require they be kept for more than six years.

The county hasn't inspected the deck since its opening because N.C. law doesn't allow for scheduled structural inspections of private buildings, Carroll said. Buildings are inspected regularly for fire safety.

But Mecklenburg would be allowed to look at other decks after the Fairview Road collapse. Barry Gupton, the chief code consultant with the N.C. Department of Insurance, which regulates building codes, said the county could look at all decks, or narrow its inspections to decks of a certain age or type of construction.

Mecklenburg County commissioners Chairman Jennifer Roberts said the prospect of looking at all decks in the county would be "daunting."

"But it seems to me we need to question (what happened)," Roberts said. "We know our infrastructure is aging. Twenty years ago, we didn't have that many decks, and now they are everywhere."

Late last year, a portion of a deck at SouthPark mall collapsed when a motorist slammed into a wall at a high speed -- estimated by police at more than 50 mph. That garage was built this decade, and the county felt there was no way it could have withstood the impact from the motorist.

The county didn't advise other deck owners to check their structures, nor did it inspect other garages.

Bobbie Shields, a Mecklenburg general manager, and assistant to County Manager Harry Jones, said the county has discussed informally this week whether additional inspections might be needed -- contrary to Building Services position. If the cause of the parking deck collapse appears as if it could happen elsewhere, the county might order inspections, he said.

Of a certain age

Building experts say that accidents such as Tuesday's deck collapse don't necessarily trigger governments to mandate new inspections.

But when a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2000, injuring more than 100 people, the N.C. Department of Transportation quickly decided to inspect all private pedestrian bridges spanning state roads.

Jeffrey Hadley, vice president of Raleigh-based Forensic Analysis & Engineering, said that in the aftermath of a structural accident that owners and government are usually effective at finding out what happened. They are less effective at preventing it from happening again.

"You would think there would be a desire to be inquisitive," Hadley said about the county's involvement in the deck collapse.

Hadley speculated the garage could have been hit months earlier, weakening it.

"But you don't expect something to fall down after 20 years," he said.

Ted Huck, a vice president at Philadelphia-based Matcor, a corrosion prevention firm, said rebar inside the concrete could have deteriorated.

"It's very reasonable to assume that we're going to see more and more of it (corrosion causing collapses)," Huck said. "Charlotte is coming into an age where corrosion starts to become a concern. There is a need to do periodic inspections."

Isler Sr. had bought the car for his son, planning a restoration project for the two of them. Isler died fighting the March 7 fire at Salisbury Millwork.

Show hosts Rusty Wallace and Shannon Wiseman surprised Vic and his mother with the car, driven by Kevin Harvick, during a taping of the show at a Salisbury fire station.

The Corvette was restored by "NASCAR Angels" and Griffin Brothers Tires, Wheels, and Auto Repair, and Goodyear Gemini repair shop.

Landscaper pulled unconscious from lake at racer's home

HICKORY

A landscaper working at race car driver Dale Jarrett's Lake Hickory home was pulled unconscious from the water Friday and was in cardiac arrest when he was rushed to the hospital, authorities said. The man, whom authorities would not name, was mowing the lawn at Jarrett's waterfront house in Hickory, said Catawba County Emergency Services Director David Weldon, when the riding lawnmower went into the lake.

The man was pulled from the water, Weldon said, and had gone into cardiac arrest when emergency rescuers arrived. He was not breathing when he was taken to the hospital, authorities said.

The lawn worker's condition was not available Friday evening. -- Marcie Young

Cleveland County

Afternoon shooting sends 3 victims to the hospital

SHELBY

Shelby Police were investigating a shooting Friday afternoon outside Ramblewood Apartments that sent three people to Cleveland Regional Medical Center. Authorities didn't have information about the condition of the victims, but said their injuries were believed to be non-life threatening.

Police were following up leads on a possible suspect. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Shelby Police Department at 704-484-6845 or Crime Stoppers at 704-481-8477. -- joe depriest

Gaston County

Man accused of killing puppy, charged with animal cruelty

BESSEMER CITY

A man has been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly stomping a tiny puppy to death because it wasn't house trained. Police say a Bessemer City man confessed to killing the Chihuahua mix because he was sick of the dog. He allegedly confessed while on his way to jail.Sherry Thomas said her daughter ran to her house describing what her boyfriend had done to their new puppy.

"My daughter says she heard quite a few bangs, she didn't know what it was till she went out and she saw blood coming out of its mouth," Thomas said.

She says Timothy Loftis hated Tequila, the tiny puppy that belonged to his girlfriend and 19-month-old daughter.

Police say Loftis confessed to killing the dog because he was annoyed the puppy wasn't house-trained. Loftis faces felony animal cruelty charges and remains in jail. -- WCNC

Mecklenburg County

Roadside argument Friday night leaves man shot in leg, head

One person was shot in the leg and the head after a roadside argument ended in gunfire during rush hour Friday night.

Police were looking for the driver of a beige, four-door sedan who fled the scene of the shooting in northwest Charlotte.

Police have not identified the person who was shot, but said after he was hit, he was able to walk to a house on Crestview Drive near the Brookshire Freeway. Someone there called police on his behalf, said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Capt. Charles Bannerman. The man's injuries aren't life-threatening.

Bannerman said the victim and the other people in the car were not cooperating fully with investigating officers.

Two other people in the car who weren't struck drove a few blocks and then called police, but didn't provide additional details. Bannerman said he didn't know whether the occupants of the cars knew each other, but said officers didn't think it was an incident of road rage. -- Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

Elsewhere in the Region

N.C. State Fair to get extra day this year -- a first in 22 years

RALEIGH

For the first time in 22 years, state officials are adding an extra day to the N.C. State Fair.

The gates will open for a preview on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. State Fair organizers anticipate the N.C. Department of Labor will have inspected and certified about 85 percent of the rides for operation in time for the opening.

The 2008 State Fair will run Oct. 16-26 at the State Fairgrounds. -- Associated Press

The board alleges the Charlotte internist spent the money for personal reasons, including $30,000 for season tickets to the Charlotte Bobcats basketball games.

Augustus, 46, who works at Augustus Medical in the University City area, could not be reached for comment. He has been disciplined by the medical board twice.

In 2006, his license was suspended for two months and he was on probation for two years as part of a consent order to resolve allegations that he had been involved in sexual or social relationships with two patients.

In 2007, Augustus signed a second consent order to resolve board allegations that he "fraudulently converted the proceeds of a check" for $170,000 that he received in error from Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

In its latest allegations, signed May 5, the board says Augustus violated that 2007 consent order by failing to repay the money.

According to board documents, Augustus received the Blue Cross check in 2005 and deposited it in his business account at BB&T. Even after Blue Cross asked Augustus to return the money, he began spending it, the board said.

In 2006, the bank sued Augustus, alleging fraud and unfair and deceptive trade practices, and the Mecklenburg County Superior Court subsequently ordered the doctor to pay damages of $510,000, the board said.

To avoid suspension of his medical license, Augustus signed the 2007 consent order with the medical board, agreeing to repay the bank in 12 installments of $21,350, starting in March 2008.

In its latest charges, the board says Augustus hasn't made a payment to the bank, in violation of the 2007 consent order. That order said noncompliance could result in an indefinite suspension of his license.

Augustus has been licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina since 1996.

Principal Ken Roess said he heard Thursday that some students were upset about "questionable comments." He declined to give details because he said staff members are investigating.

Freshman Gaby Aguilar said she organized the protest after a friend told her that math teacher and track coach Gerald Sheppard made fun of the way her friend speaks English and said Hispanics should go back where they came from. The student in question could not be reached.

Sheppard, who was away from school at a track meet Friday, denied making the comments. "I'm really just appalled," he said. "Anybody that knows me knows that I would never make a comment like that. I treat every one of these kids the same."

Gaby, 14, whose family is from Mexico, said she encounters similar remarks on campus from white students who make fun of Latino students for speaking Spanish.

"They need to get up to date and realize the world is changing," she said.

About 185 of Sun Valley's 1,500 students are Hispanic.

Some 300 teenagers met on the terrace at 11:50 a.m. outside the school's cafeteria, 20 miles southeast of Charlotte. Administrators said they worried that many of the kids were missing class.

Gaby said she encouraged Latino classmates to wear shirts that represent Spanish-speaking countries.

"It's to make a point," she said. "We're proud of where we come from."

Kids on Friday wore the bright blues, reds and yellows of Colombia's flag, the star and stripes of Puerto Rico and the red, white and green of Mexico.

Faculty asked them to return to class.

Seven young men stood side by side across the street yelling slogans of support and several obscenities in Spanish. It's not clear whether they were students.

The crowd on campus stood for about 45 minutes before sheriff's patrol cars arrived and administrators coaxed kids back in the building. No one was arrested and deputies didn't approach students.

"I feel the need for solidarity," said Assistant Principal Theresa Benson. "But it needs to be in an organized fashion."

Principal Roess said it's uncertain whether anyone will be disciplined.

"Our desire is that every student feels safe and comfortable at our school," he said. "It saddens me that the campus has been disturbed by one event.

"We celebrate diversity at Sun Valley."

In the video, Yarmolenko is beside her car at a Goodwill store drop-off on 1725 Harris Houston Road, not far from the UNCC campus. She pulls items from the back seat and hands them to a young man, who appears to put them into adjacent donation bins. Police said the man was working for Goodwill and is not a suspect in the case.

A few moments later, Yarmolenko gets into her car and drives off. The footage was filmed at 10:33 a.m. on Monday, May 5.

Bo Hussey, vice president of marketing and communication for Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont, said police have asked his organization not to comment about the video or the case because the investigation is ongoing.

Before Yarmolenko stopped at Goodwill, police said she had been seen on campus and then at a credit union. After leaving Goodwill, police said she went to Jackson's Java, a university-area coffee shop where she had worked and often hung out. She was last seen alive leaving the cafe alone around 10:50 a.m., police said.

About two hours later, a couple riding personal watercraft found Yarmolenko's body lying next to her car on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly, some 30 miles from campus.

Investigators said she died of asphyxiation but exactly what happened and why is still a mystery.

Mount Holly spokeswoman Leslie Shiel said police released the video in hopes that it will help them gather more information. Police say they have some strong leads but have not named any suspects.

UNCC announced Thursday that it is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Call the Mount Holly Police Department at 704-827-4343.

Another memorial service for Yarmolenko will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon today at the Chapel Hill High School auditorium, 1709 High School Road in Chapel Hill. According to a news release, a member of an anti-violence organization called Athletes of America Helping Americans Inc. has been invited by Yarmolenko's family to speak at the event.

They're behind the counter at Cafe Monte on Fairview and behind the scenes at every food event from Charlotte Shout to farm dinners.

Call them Charlotte's favorite cooking tool. They're culinary students -- mostly young, eager and ambitious, charged up like KitchenAid mixers plugged into a lightning bolt.

"They work 45, 50 hours a week for me and they take a full load at school," says Alexander. "These are the ones that are going to make it."

Six years ago, a group of public and private officials came up with a multimillion-dollar bundle of incentives to get Johnson & Wales University, a Providence, R.I.-based business and culinary school, to build a campus in uptown.

Today, J&W's Charlotte campus graduates its first four-year class, a group of 1,613 that includes more than 380 who arrived as freshmen and move on with bachelor's degrees.

If surveys of last year's graduates are any indication, 79 percent will stay in the South and 60 percent will stay in Charlotte. They'll become a part of a food scene that is very different from what it was when they got here.

"When we opened (in 2001), it was a crabcake and steak town," says Alexander. "Now, people are becoming more wine and food savvy, they're less intimidated. They understand and get the concept of sustainable agriculture, local food, indigenous food, and that's right up our alley."

No one says the university was the only cause of that. But it was a big ingredient.

Charlotte's focus on food

Bob Boll, director of hospitality education at Central Piedmont Community College, likes to call Charlotte "the culinary-school capital of the free world."Citing food-focused programs at CPCC, J&W and the Art Institute of Charlotte, he gets excited by the sheer number of students focused on culinary training.

"Name a town that has that many culinary schools," he says. "I travel to Denver, I travel to San Francisco. They can't keep pace with what Charlotte's producing."

J&W attracted plenty of attention when it announced it would close campuses in Norfolk, Va., and Charleston and build a new facility in Charlotte. The new campus attracted so many students from all over the country that it had to increase first-year enrollment from 850 to 1,200. The school has settled into a current student body of 2,300.

"That changes a community," says Michael Smith, president of Charlotte Center City Partners. "They spill out into our hotels and our restaurants and our businesses."

Just the presence of that many people looking for jobs in the culinary field will have repercussions.

"An economist will always tell you that growth depends on skilled labor and capital," says John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia who also is involved in several uptown organizations.

"To be mercenary about the whole thing, what Johnson & Wales does for us is give us skilled workers in leisure and hospitality. Better waiters, better cooks, eventually better chefs."

The business of cooking

Of course, these are student cooks. No one expects young alumni to open restaurants next week. They don't even have the skills to -- not yet, anyway.

That's what culinary education is all about. Bruce Moffett, chef/owner of Barrington's on Fairview, has worked with students at his restaurant, at events like Charlotte Shout and through his side job teaching at the Art Institute.

"They know the basics," he says. And when he got out of school, at the Culinary Institute of America, that's about what he knew.

"I knew what a fine dice was, I knew how to brunoise" he says. "But all the stuff I really learned was the stuff you don't use for five or six years."

The important thing about a culinary education isn't learning how to cook, it's learning to make a living at it.

"Students come out with a basic understanding, but it takes awhile to develop your own style and to figure out what kind of chef you want to be. But if you have the degree, you have the basic understanding to appreciate it when you see it.

"That's what separates you from the guys who didn't go to cooking school."

Oh, the places they'll go

So if new graduates won't have the money to open restaurants right away, what does come next? For one thing, students who don't stay have been heading out to the nation's restaurant cities, like New York and Chicago, with Charlotte's name on their resumes."It's not so much that Charlotte has a different place on the culinary map," says New York-based restaurant consultant Clark Wolf. "It's that nobody would raise an eyebrow now when you say you went to school in Charlotte.

"People accept the study of food anywhere. And they are starting to hear about the culinary school in Charlotte."

Boll isn't looking for the Charlotte graduate who opens a hot restaurant, he says. What he's watching for are the hot young chefs in other cities who are looking for a place to make their mark.

"Charlotte can start to look very attractive," he says. "It's a city with lots of banks and three culinary schools, two on the university level."

Many in the restaurant world say the real boost of J&W has been to draw attention to the fact that there is a restaurant world.

Alex Myrick, owner of the restaurants Blue and Table, says customers constantly ask about the students, and that's a good thing.

"People start to realize, `Oh, people go to school to be a chef?' " he said.

Everyone involved in Charlotte's food scenes expects these changes to keep picking up momentum. Look at Charlotte four years from now and you'll see more of everything.

"It's much like watching your children grow," says Center City Partners' Michael Smith. "You don't recognize it unless you look away for a little while. But Johnson & Wales has changed our city."

More inside, 10A

• It's not all cooking at Johnson & Wales, say the business school students.

• Where are they now? We give you updates on students we've reported on before.

• Top employers who hire J&W graduates.

Legislative fiscal analyst Doug Holbrook told lawmakers this week that the state could need an additional 6,100 beds to keep up with a growing prison population by 2017.

Even by 2012, the state would need to spend between $85 million and $120 million soon to meet a 1,854-prison bed shortage, Holbrook said.

The N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission predicts the state prison population will hit 40,000 next year.

Options presented to the lawmakers included building more prisons, adjusting the state's sentencing grid or both.

Officials say the growth in prison population is mostly due to growth in the overall state population.

Lawmakers at the meeting asked about double bunking more inmates and seeing whether terminally ill inmates could be released.

Lao Rubert, executive director of the Carolina Justice Policy Center, a Durham nonprofit group that advocates effective and humane sentencing laws, said lawmakers must do more than try to build their way out of the problem.

The then-rising political star privately described his casual drug culture to a SLED investigator last spring when Ravenel was first confronted about his drug use.

Ravenel portrayed himself as being drawn from a healthy lifestyle into a cocaine world that stretched from the Upper King Street bar district to mansions south of Broad Street.

"I was sort of addicted to working out," Ravenel told Lt. Frank O'Neal during conversations on June 15 and 16.

"Then, recently ... I was just kinda, you know, I was just looking to, I don't know, I was around people that were doing it."

Transcripts of the interviews obtained by The State under open-records laws show that Ravenel discounted the extent of his habit. He told O'Neal he did not use drugs in high school or at The Citadel.

By the time Ravenel was sentenced in March to 10 months in federal prison, he acknowledged he first experimented with drugs at 15, using marijuana.

During the sentencing hearing, one of Ravenel's attorneys told federal Judge Joe Anderson his client's drug use was a "social problem."

Anderson countered that Ravenel was "not forthcoming fully," noting Ravenel didn't immediately tell investigators how much and how often he used.

Cocaine highs fueled Ravenel's successful commercial development career, and his drug use zoomed in 2005, according to information released in court.

Records show he was using drugs during the period when he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2004, as well as during his campaign to become the state's chief financial officer in 2006.

Ravenel, 46, is free on bail and has yet to report to prison to begin his sentence.

Efforts this week to reach him and his attorney Bart Daniel were unsuccessful.

`Sharing' cocaine

During the telephone conversations, O'Neal pressed Ravenel to characterize the cocaine culture among Charleston's elite."I mean it's everywhere," Ravenel responded. "Sharing, you know, like ... a football, and we're throwing back and forth to each other. ... I wasn't trying to hoard it or anything."

The identities of people Ravenel named were redacted from 28 pages of SLED documents.

But the picture that emerges is that Ravenel's drug partners included a board of directors member, real estate developers, someone "from a very affluent family with vast property ownership throughout the state," and a pharmaceutical salesman.

Some investigators have described Ravenel's crowd as "Charleston dilettantes."

O'Neal, who teamed with federal agents on the case, pushed Ravenel to name any "big guy," especially politicians or attorneys.

Ravenel waffled, then said none were elected officials or lawyers.

But later, he said he had given it more thought. "I've been thinking about this attorney or politician; I don't know of one single attorney," he told O'Neal.

List of places to buy

Ravenel also recounted his favorite places to buy drugs: his home, apartments on Meeting Street, a boat and restaurants and bars. Ravenel dodged O'Neal's questions about the frequency of his cocaine use.

"Maybe five or 10 times from each (partner), but I don't know. Those are like forgettable moments. You don't want to remember 'em."

He told the investigator the first time he used cocaine was at a Charleston New Year's Eve party in 2002.

Early in the investigation, he acknowledged he bought one to two grams at a time, often from a street dealer he knew as "Hash" or "Hashmere."

Hash has been identified as co-defendant Michael Miller, who was charged with the same offense and sentenced to an identical penalty.

Ravenel also disclosed that one of his key suppliers was in the wine business. Wine-tasting expert Pasquale Pellicoro has been charged but is a fugitive; authorities believe he has returned to his native Italy.

Remarks on other users

Ravenel also dished on some in his cocaine circle.

He referred to one man as "well studied ... a good father." Yet the convicted former state treasurer said, "I just think he's just kinda maybe a poor leader."

Ravenel called one woman "a leech" and said another had sex with a man at his Church Street home while her date waited in the kitchen.

Even as he was under investigation, Ravenel kept a busy schedule.

He told O'Neal he had to "check my schedule on my government Blackberry" before he could schedule a meeting with chief federal prosecutor Reggie Lloyd.

During another interview with O'Neal, Ravenel stopped the conversation because he had to make a speech to Girls State, an organization that teaches civic mindedness to accomplished high school seniors.

The treasurer cooperated with investigators from the moment they approached him in a parking garage at the State House.

He seemed resigned to his future.

"Where do you think this is going?" Ravenel asked. "Major scandal and jail and all this stuff."

He told O'Neal he had learned his lesson. He said the last time he bought cocaine was May 25, 2007..

"And now I don't want to do it. I've been scared straight. I promise I won't do this (expletive) ever again."

A bill that passed the state Senate last year and is awaiting action in the House would add North Carolina to a coalition of states that pledge to elect the president by national popular vote instead of the current state-by-state system.

The legislation doesn't take effect until it is passed by enough states to total 270 electoral votes, the number needed to elect a president. Once they reach that number, all of those states will award their electors as a bloc to the winner of the national popular vote.

North Carolina would no longer be a safe Republican state that both parties' presidential campaigns typically ignore in the November election, said Barry Fadem, president of National Popular Vote. He was lobbying several House members this week as the General Assembly convened for this year's session.

Republican leaders countered that the proposal would flip the election on its head. A presidential candidate could lose North Carolina by a wide margin but receive all 15 of the state's electoral votes.

House Speaker Joe Hackney, a Chapel Hill Democrat, said no decisions have been made on whether the popular-vote bill will come up for a vote. Last year national Democratic Party officials privately urged N.C. Democrats to put the brakes on the legislation, facing the prospect of having to suddenly fight for big states such as California and New York. It's unclear if the national party's objections persist.

Fadem's most powerful ammunition this week was the spike in voter registration, turnout and volunteer involvement driven by this year's competitive Democratic presidential race. Candidates or their staff showed up in towns that had never seen a presidential campaign.

He doesn't guarantee candidates will fly into every state. Campaigns will still prioritize their spending, but even the least populous state is likely to see some volunteer canvassing or advertising, Fadem said.

Currently, each state essentially holds its own presidential election. Each state has a certain number of electors and awards them to candidates based in some fashion on the popular vote. The electors gather for the Electoral College several weeks later and elect the president.

Twice, including President Bush's election in 2000, the candidate who won the necessary electoral votes and became president actually lost the popular vote. Some Republicans see the popular-vote movement as the pet cause of bitter Democrats.

North Carolina hasn't seen a competitive presidential election since 1992 because Republicans consistently have won the state. Democrats haven't put up a fight. Under the legislation, though, the state would transform from a statewide contest into a collection of up to nearly 6 million votes that count toward a national total. Candidates would have to fight for as many as they could get, Fadem said.

"Why is a vote in Ohio worth more than a vote in North Carolina?" Fadem said, referring to how campaigns typically focus on fewer than 20 battleground states. "If every vote counts," Fadem said, "no president can afford to write off a state."

Four states -- Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois and Hawaii -- have enacted the popular-vote plan. It passed the legislature in California and Vermont, where it was vetoed and is expected to be vetoed respectively. North Carolina and Massachusetts are considering the legislation this year.

Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, of Apex and the N.C. House Republican leader, said he can't imagine a single GOP House member supporting the idea because the loser of the state's popular vote, usually the Democrat, could still win its electoral votes.

"That thing tells our voters that the state would support the very candidate they repudiated," Stam said.

Fadem, a Democrat, said voters take a broader look.

"The voter, when he or she wakes up the morning after the election, does not jump up and down and say, `Oh, my candidate won North Carolina,' " he said. "Their focus is whether their candidate won the presidency."

Advocates say they are not usurping the Constitution because it says only that the states may determine how they award electors.

Veteran campaign strategists said a popular-vote approach would dramatically alter campaigns, decreasing the emphasis on issues specific within certain states and notching up the focus on issues crucial to certain groups of voters.

"You back into it," said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane, a veteran of Al Gore's 2000 campaign. "`This is how I get to 51 percent. These are the demographic groups that help me get there,' and you go to the states where they exist."