Got to hand it to David Crabtree for calling Bev out on the golden leaf fund, and why it's taken so long to do anything about it.

you guys are so very unbelieveable. The woman talked about what was important to her. She has continued to run a positive campaign even though her opponent spends every minute and every cent of his 1.5 million on negative adds. it is amazing that the only thing you can talk about is blue eye shadow.

Do they make that anymore?

Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors

Brunette,
As usual, you are right. Perdue's gooey rhetoric was pretty gross. So was her eyeshadow. I loved when David Crabtree sort of called her out about being leader of the senate and not having tried to enact her budget plan before running for governor. Moore was on point throughout the debate. He didn't dodge questions(like the one about the DOT) and he gave lots and lots of details. I've been a Moore fan for a while now but this debate really solidified things for me. In MY view(don't want to offend anyone), he is by far the most intelligent of the two. I think it was definitely a win for Moore.

I like the Indepent's endorsement of Moore...

Governor

Given the mudfest in the Democratic primary, it's a murky choice at best between the two leading candidates. Neither has earned any respect with their relentlessly negative campaigns. Both are rich, middle-of-the-road party regulars who, when the muck is cleared, differ little on the issues. Each drips sincerity to the point that common folk turn away. You won't go wrong keeping your vote in your pocket. But forced to choose, we come down on the side of Richard Moore, the state treasurer, over Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue.

Moore has done good work in his two terms as treasurer, modernizing investment policies for the state's $78 billion pension portfolio to achieve a better balance of stocks and bonds—and a more prudent mix of safety and risk—than his very risk-averse predecessor, Harlan Boyles. The returns on those investments under Moore's leadership have been competitive with the broad markets, as they should be, and contrary to the Perdue campaign's dark assertions that they haven't.

Moore was among the first public pension fund managers to join the investor-protection movement, questioning the huge salaries paid to corporate executives and demanding cuts in the bloated fees some mutual fund companies charge.

It's true, Moore sullied that good work by wringing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the Wall Street firms he hired to help invest the state's money. He thus opened himself up to suspicions that he was choosing advisors based on their political support, a perception that, even if false, can't be disproved.

And yes, early in his campaign Moore did exclaim how "wonderful" it would be to repeal the state's corporate income tax. No, it wouldn't: It would be a $1.3 billion boondoggle. Moore's stopped saying it, fortunately. But it's indicative of his pro-business bent.

On the other hand, Moore has called for reforming the state's politics-ridden system of transportation funding. And he did speak out early, at a business conference in January 2006, for increasing the state's minimum wage, which was long before it occurred to any of North Carolina's other pro-business Democrats to say so—a list which includes, notably, Perdue.

As lieutenant governor, Perdue has little power, so there's not much to point to—good or bad—in her "record" over two terms. We credit her efforts as chair of the state's Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which controls part of the tobacco-settlement money, especially in leading anti-smoking efforts in the schools. She also took up the task, at Gov. Mike Easley's direction, of arguing the case for the state's military bases back when the Bush administration was looking for bases to cut. Her campaign ads exaggerate the "danger" to North Carolina. Still, she did her duty.

But Perdue fanned on her one chance to do something positive as lieutenant governor when she broke the tie in the Senate (the only time she gets a vote is when there is a tie) and gave us the so-called "education" lottery. Her vote won her favor with the state teachers' association, which is currently smearing Moore with negative ads—in contradiction of Perdue's solemn pledge to go positive. But it was a lousy decision to raise school money in such a destructive and regressive way.

Moreover, Perdue's made no bones about wanting to be governor from the day she took the No. 2 job, and has campaigned for it virtually full-time ever since. She's had every chance to speak up about anything that was not getting done in Raleigh but should—to break with the party establishment, in other words, about something. If she ever did, we've not heard it. Nor did we hear it from her when she was in the General Assembly and earned a reputation as "one of the guys"—and one of the tough guys at that.

We're still trying to forget Perdue's deceptive claim that she was "real poor" growing up, a self-styled "Coal Miner's Daughter." Her father was indeed a miner at first, but soon became a wealthy coal-mine owner and utility company executive. Perdue now accurately says of him on the stump that he was successful despite little formal education.

And Perdue has a cadre of progressive Democrats supporting her, including many women, who believe that if she's elected, she'll be better than Moore at the hard work of getting things done in Raleigh. That may be. Behind that fixed smile, Perdue is known for the kind of grim determination it takes to be elected the first woman governor. What she's not known for is inspired leadership.

I'm pretty sure that pointing out she sponsored the Safe Schools legislation and was endorsed by teachers and law enforcement is important shorthand in her ads for school safety, especially now that Richard Moore is running his own ads saying that Bev wants to put a gun in every backpack and that she personally wants to shoot our children while they're trying to learn.

The problem with negative ads is that they only work until they're not believable anymore. Moore is streeeeeeeeetching too far these days, and I think you'll see a backfire. This race started out with Bev in the lead, but with two strong candidates. In the natural election arc of tightening at the primary, this race is supposed to be "too close to call" right now, but Moore's unbelievable negative ads are probably keeping him from closing the gap.