On December 9, the North Carolina Republican Party asked the State Board of Elections to list fourteen candidates in its presidential primary. See this story. The Democratic Party of North Carolina had already told the Board to list three candidates (Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley).
The Republican Party included Jim Gilmore and George Pataki, even though they did not file in Oklahoma or Louisiana.
The most crowded presidential primary ballots in North Carolina in the past had been nine Democrats in 1984, and eight Republicans in 1980.
I’m a little bit surprised that Pataki is failing to qualify for ballots.