It has been three years since the old brick textile mill in Kannapolis, North Carolina, shut down, throwing 4,800 people out of work. Yet the mill, which once made pillowcases and closed in part because of competition from imports, casts a shadow over the heated race for Congress in this once booming industrial enclave of North Carolina. Two politicians are squaring off against each other over the issue of free trade and its relevance to the old textile town, in a battle seen as embelmatic of the struggles between Democrats and Republicans during this Congressional election year.
See "In Old Textile District, the Free-Trade Issue Dominates", Steven R. Weisman, The New York Times, October 25, 2006