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The Republican and Democratic contenders for governor debated over at the Koury Center today.

I'm on duty for election coverage today, but I popped in to listen to the back and forth. Some quick hits:

• * Republicans hit many of the same themes as they did in their first debate. A question about the Leandro Lawsuit did prompt one interesting answer from former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr.

  Orr and the other Republican candidates were debating the relative merits of having a judge essentially take custody of a group of schools and threaten to close them if they don't run. All three Republicans argued this was a bad idea.

  The quote that caught my ear from Orr: "The governor needs to be the person in charge of public education."

  So...what exactly is the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state school board supposed to do?

  Click here to listen to the full exchange among the candidates. Orr answers first, followed by Sen. Fred Smith and then Bill Graham.

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• * Democrats were also on hand. Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue and Treasurer Richard Moore kept things civil...mostly. There were, however, a couple testy points during the debate.

  One such point came during a question on how to pay for school construction needs. Moore took the opportunity to pitch his plan to have a public-private partnership build schools.

  That prompted this from Bev Perdue to say it sounded like Moore was suggesting new bureaucracy that would interfere in how school districts keep their buildings.

  "That may be a fresh idea, but it sure is a bad idea from my perspective," Perdue said.

  "That's not the way the plan works at all and I'll be glad to explain it to you," Moore responded.

  Click here to listen to the full ask and answer. (The snippy bit comes toward the end during the 30-second rebuttal period.)

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• * The other testy bit came when candidates were asked about the number of low-income students in the state's public schools. Both candidates talked about how students from poorer families wouldn't have the same advantages as student from wealthier families.

  Perdue said that one way to help was to encourage kids with her North Carolina Promise program that would help kids pay for college.

  Moore jumped on that: "Beverly you were a part of tuition increase after tuition increase," Moore said. "After years of raising tuition how are we going to turn around and give the college away."

  Perdue started her answer by saying, "I believe every kid in North Carolina deserves to have hope and opportunity." However, she never got around to tackling Moore's question head-on.

  Click here to listen to the full exchange. (Once again, the sassy bits are toward the end.)

Okay, I'm off to municipal election land. Y'all play nice.