1976: The primary battle between Jimmy Carter and George Wallace got personal in North Carolina. Wallace, a pro-segregationalist who won half the primary vote four years earlier, said Carter's "smiling and grinning a lot" would do little to reform post-Watergate Washington. Carter defeated Wallace 54 percent to 35 percent.

1984: Former Vice President Walter Mondale won North Carolina with 36 percent of the vote, fighting off Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, who garnered 30 percent. The Rev. Jesse Jackson finished in third place with 25 percent. Jackson's camp claimed credit for bringing out first-time black voters, who comprised a huge 11 percent of voters in North Carolina and two other primaries, according to "New Perspectives on American Politics."

1976: After five straight losses, Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan won the North Carolina primary against President Gerald Ford by six percentage points -- a rare defeat of a sitting president in a primary election. Although Ford won the nomination, Reagan's victory breathed new life into the career of the future president.

1980: Four years later, Reagan trounced George H.W. Bush in North Carolina's GOP primary, defeating him by 45 percentage points.

1992: President George H.W. Bush rebuffed a challenge by conservative columnist Patrick Buchanan. Bush crushed Buchanan by 50 percentage points -- ending his hope that he could repeat Reagan's 1976 victory.