Richard Burr, sans socks, plowed through the New Hampshire snowdrifts last week stumping for John McCain for president, which is likely to re-ignite talk that he could be McCain's vice presidential running mate.

If Burr, a Republican senator from Winston-Salem, were to land on the national ticket someday, it would hardly be startling, and not just because one of his ancestors, Aaron Burr, served as vice president.

As North Carolina emerges as a politically competitive megastate, Tar Heel political leaders are increasingly becoming national players in politics.

Burr succeeded Democrat John Edwards, who is in his second presidential campaign. Edwards defeated Republican Lauch Faircloth, who in turn beat Democrat Terry Sanford, who twice ran for president.

North Carolina's other senator, Elizabeth Dole, has already run for president. She succeeded Sen. Jesse Helms, who was twice nominated for vice president. Helms was never on the national Republican ticket, but his name was "placed in nomination" during GOP conventions.

Democratic Gov. Mike Easley has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for the Democratic presidential nominee.

What this suggests is that North Carolina is now in the big league of U.S. politics -- just as it is in professional football, basketball and hockey. So far, though, none of the Tar Heel politicians has won the brass ring.

With 9 million people, North Carolina is the 10th-largest state. Just as elected leaders of California, New York, Illinois and Ohio are routinely mentioned for national office, so are North Carolina leaders.

For the last quarter of a century, North Carolina has been one of the most politically competitive states in the country. The state is marked by fierce partisan warfare, high-priced campaigns and the latest advertising techniques.

Some of the nation's best political consultants cut their teeth here.

In the 1990s, no state in the country had closer races for the high-profile contests of president, governor and senator than North Carolina.

Consider Burr, 52, a former businessman. He was recruited to run for the Senate by White House strategist Karl Rove in 2004, in part to raise the heat on Edwards. (Edwards decided not to seek re-election.)

Just to get elected to the Senate, Burr had to prove himself in a way that few Senate candidates have to do. Burr defeated Erskine Bowles, Bill Clinton's former chief of staff and a multimillionaire able to finance his own campaign.

It was a race in which $26 million was spent -- not an unusual amount for a North Carolina Senate race, but far more than Senate races in most other states.

Last month, though still a freshman, Burr made a serious but unsuccessful bid to win a Senate GOP leadership post.

When Rove was at Duke University recently, he singled out Burr as someone of presidential timber.

A generation ago, that would not have happened.

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