Are The New York Times and local Republicans overstating the role that Obama for America played in this fall's Wake County election results?

The Sunday Times Review analysis piece cites the Raleigh and Charlotte mayoral races and the Wake school board races as examples of how successful the Obama campaign was locally. The article goes on to quote local Republicans to buttress the assertions in the piece about a mass Obama for America organizing effort in Wake.

“It was very scary,” said Chris Sinclair, a strategist for Billie Redmond, the Republican candidate for mayor in Raleigh. “You don’t know what’s going on until you wake up after Election Day and go, ‘Oh my gosh, what happened?’ ”

The next Raleigh mayor could continue to be a critic of the Wake County school board majority.

As noted in today's article by Matt Garfield, J.B. Buxton is weighing a run for Raleigh mayor in order to be a "forceful advocate for quality schools." Buxton is an education consultant who used to be deputy state schools superintendent and was Gov. Mike Easley's senior education advisor.

Buxton, who was at least in the past a Wake magnet parent, opposed ending the diversity policy. He expressed his views in this op-ed piece that ran in October.