CORRECTION

An article Friday in the City & State section about the evacuation of Democrat John Edwards' presidential campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill incorrectly said Jerry Hatfield-Berrang supports Edwards for president. Hatfield-Berrang is a Republican and said he won't be voting for Edwards.

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CHAPEL HILL -- John Edwards is losing support at 410 Market St.

Last year, he opened his national campaign headquarters on an upstairs floor of the building in Southern Village, south of downtown Chapel Hill.

"At first I was excited," said Tommie Chavis, who works at the Travelink travel agency downstairs. "They're going to put us on the map. Everyone is going to know where Southern Village is."

A few months later, some merchants regret the Democratic presidential hopeful ever moved in.

Campaign volunteers hog parking spaces in front of businesses, they say, and the folks upstairs aren't as friendly as they had hoped. And then there are the suspicious packages.

A FedEx truck dropped off the latest one Thursday. It beeped until a police bomb squad discovered digital watches someone was sending the campaign, said Interim Police Chief Brian Curran.

Edwards' office twice has been sent envelopes containing white powder later found to be harmless. Thursday's package forced an evacuation that closed shops, doctor's offices and other businesses for about three hours. Keith Getchell, manager of Town Hall Grill, estimates his restaurant lost close to $1,000 in sales.

"The crazy thing about this is it's not going to be the last time this is going to happen," said Jerry Hatfield-Berrang, who runs the Hatfield-Berrang Hearing Aid Center, also in the building. The company had to reschedule several hours of appointments worth a potential $20,000 in sales, he said.

"Am I tired of it? I wish that they weren't here," said Hatfield-Berrang. He added that he still supports Edwards for president.

Edwards campaign spokeswoman Colleen Murray says they might change how and possibly where the office gets its mail.

"We are looking into options to ensure the safety and convenience of our staff and Southern Village neighbors," she said.

Despite neighbors' grumbles, though, experts say the campaign's location remains an asset for Chapel Hill and the Triangle.

"Having a presidential campaign has been great for teaching and introducing students to the workings of American democracy," said J. Ferrel Guillory, a political analyst and director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill. "It shows that American politics isn't just confined within the Beltway in Washington."

Brad Crone, president of Campaign Connections, a Democratic consulting group based in Raleigh, said the Market Street situation wouldn't hurt Edwards.

Still, Edwards has lost one supporter: Chavis said he is a Barack Obama man now.

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