Barack Obama versus Hillary Rodham Clinton. Isn't that a remake of the old North Carolina classics of Harvey Gantt versus Mike Easley or Gantt versus Charles Sanders?

Gantt, a former Charlotte mayor and an MIT-educated architect, twice sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, aiming to win the right to challenge Republican Sen. Jesse Helms.

In 1990, Gantt's major Democratic primary opponent was Easley, then a young district attorney. In 1996, the Gantt opponent was Sanders, the former Glaxo chairman from Durham.

In both cases, Easley and Sanders had the backing of much of the white Democratic establishment -- including Sen. Terry Sanford, in the 1990 race -- who were skeptical that an African-American could be elected to the Senate. They feared the state would be stuck with Helms.

Gantt's appeal was much like that of Obama. Gantt was an inspirational figure who ran an optimistic campaign on issues such as jobs and health care.

Gantt's political constituency was also like Obama's. Gantt ran strongly among African-Americans, college students and younger white urban professionals as he captured the Democratic nomination both times.

But in the general election, Gantt lost twice to Helms.

Republicans won't have any difficulty in learning lessons from the Gantt races. Charlie Black, who is a top strategist for Republican Sen. John McCain, was also a top adviser to Helms.

U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, who managed Gantt's 1990 campaign, endorsed Obama last week. But he waited much longer than many African-American congressmen before backing Obama.

Watt said he saw some similarities with the Gantt campaigns.

"This campaign has some of those same racial dynamics -- those same kind of interesting dynamics that don't coincide with every single campaign that we've had," Watt said in a conference call.

Asked to elaborate, Watt said that "to stick our head in the sand and not acknowledge that would be to ignore the obvious."

But Watt also said racial views have changed considerably in the past 18 years.

Ted Arrington, a political science professor at UNC- Charlotte who has closely followed Gantt's career, said he doesn't see many similarities between the Gantt and Obama races.

"The parallel can be overdrawn," Arrington said.

There are, Arrington said, large differences between the Senate and presidential races. The electorate in North Carolina has changed dramatically since the 1990s, with older voters who grew up during segregation passing on and hundreds of thousands of new voters moving into the state.

The Democratic Party has also changed. Many conservative Democrats have become Republicans or are registered as unaffiliated.

Moreover, Gantt was running against a powerful, though controversial, incumbent. Obama or Clinton will be running for an open presidential seat.

Arrington said he sees one parallel between Obama and Gantt.

Obama, in Arrington's view, is likely to win North Carolina's May 6 primary but lose the state in the fall. But -- Arrington said that would probably be true, given North Carolina's GOP leanings in presidential politics, for any Democratic nominee.

Democrats hope this movie will turn out differently.