"When you have a sitting president — when you know who we're going to be re-nominating — it's a way to engage everyone in the process," Emmerling said.
J. Michael Bitzer, a political science and history professor at Catawba College, called the approach smart and novel.
"If you can sponsor, particularly here in North Carolina, a barbecue contest, that will create a lot of chatter on the street," Bitzer said.
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