Asheville, with a population of 84,500 free-thinkers, can take pride in the fact that, despite its modest size, it has drawn visits from two of the four major candidates stumping in the 2012 election cycle.

Many much larger U.S. cities did not attract a visit by one of these candidates.

From the Democratic side, Vice President Joe Biden spoke at an Oct. 2 rally at UNC Asheville, which drew a full house of an estimated 1,320 people to the Justice Center an an overflow room.

Not to be outdone, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney paid a visit to the Rev. Billy Graham at the latter’s Montreat home before speaking at downtown Asheville’s U.S. Cellular Center, drawing “about 10,000” people to the main and overflow rooms, according to a North Carolina Romney campaign official.

Major GOP leaders who appeared with Romney to help fire up the crowd were former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

As for the other two top candidates, of this writing (Oct. 25) neither President Barack Obama nor GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan have made it here to stump for their campaigns.

However, Obama has made three visits to Asheville in the past several years, including a campaign speech when he was running for president in 2008, a visit to the Grove Park Inn for relaxation two years ago and a speech at the Asheville Regional Airport about a year ago.

Some have noted that North Carolina is a key swing state, thereby drawing interest from both sides, but still it’s terrific for Asheville to be in the political spotlight. 

Given the attention given to our city, we urge those who have made the effort to learn about the candidates — and the issues — to vote on Election Day, Nov. 6.