Four years ago, in a lot where Walgreens now stands on Arendell Avenue in Zebulon, former President Bill Clinton climbed into the back of a vintage pick up truck and started talking to a standing-room only crowd.

Vote for Hilary, Clinton told his audience. Actually, he said a lot more. He droned on for almost an hour before he finally climbed down out of the truckbed and started gladhanding people along the rope line. Then he darted back into his big old SUV and tore off for Louisburg.

Four years ago, there were still two viable candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination. North Carolina would essentially become Hilary Clinton’s last breath of political hope. Barack Obama didn’t have an ex-president to campaign for him, but his message resonated with enough North Carolinians to give him a comfortable win and all but assure him of the Democratic nomination.

This year, the campaigning is on the Republican side of the ledger After Obama won the White House, no Democrat dares run against an incumbent.

And so while Bill Clinton expounded on nearly every political policy known to man in 2008, one has to wonder if we will see a steady parade of high profile politicos darken any doors in Zebulon again this year.

After just one GOP primary and the caucuses in Iowa, Mitt Romney looks well on his way to punching his ticket to the general election next November.

By the time North Carolina’s primary date arrives, it’s likely not to matter who we vote for.

Others will have spoken for us in places like Iowa, New Hampshire and even… Good, Lord… South Carolina.

Rick Perry, he of the ill-advised North Carolina barbecue putdown, will likely be a footnote to this year’s race by then. Newt Gingrich will likely have said something silly and controversial enough to sidetrack his candidacy. Any contendors left to challenge Romney will probably have surrogates traveling from one small town to another, urging people to vote.

That’s too bad. There was a festival-like atmosphere in Zebulon four years ago as people flocked to that empty lot to hear Bill Clinton push his wife’s candidacy. People crammed into the roped-off visitors section more than an hour before Clinton arrived here from Smithfield. People caught up with each other, waved signs and got their stuff searched by Secret Service agents.

This primary season, we’ll likely have to do without VIP visitors.

That lack of excitement will manifest itself in lower voter turnout, which means even fewer North Carolinians will have a say in who joins Obama on the ballot this fall.

North Carolina’s primary just won’t matter.

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In other GOP news, one really has to wonder what in the world legislative Republicans were thinking when they worked well into the night to strip the state teachers’ association, called the NCAE, of its ability to collect dues electronically.

It’s hard to imagine any Republican explaining the merits of the bill with a straight face. The move was all about punishing adversaies who maintained some degree of relevance during a time when the same party controlled both the Governor’s mansion and the legislative chambers.

It will be interesting to see if there’s any payback exacted by voters as they try to remove the folks who did their work in the dark of night.