Barack Obama could lose Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina and still win the Electoral College in 2012 as long as he holds onto every other state he won in 2008. But New Hampshire will be tough if Romney’s the nominee, and Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, and Nevada are swing states. So if he wants a cushion, a natural place for him to look is actually the state he won by the narrowest margin in 2008: North Carolina.

There are many signs that Obama’s playing hard for North Carolina, including his holding the convention in Charlotte, but here’s a new one: the Obama administration’s Export-Import Bank subsidy agency just approved a $638 million direct loan to Saudi Arabia in order to subsidize a Siemens plant in North Carolina. Ex-Im states: