News-Record.com

It's the Sunday before Election Day and North Carolina newspapers are taking their last big swings at the major races in the state. Different papers have different ways of approaching this, but you'll see a bit less of the he-said, she-said, Satan-said stories in the paper (the printed thing we through in your driveway) over the next couple days. The reason for this is that many newsrooms (mine is of this school of thought) believe voters are pretty much saturated with coverage. And with only a couple days to go, there's less time to correct errors or misperceptions news stories could create around a campaign among the stragglers.

That said, if something truly goofy or newsworthy happens, we're going to engage on it.

So what's doing on this last weekend of the regularly scheduled political season?

My friends over at the Legion of Dome were taking one last look at the Senate race for today's N+O, while Media General's Sean Mussenden argues the ghost of elections past may be fading. Gerald Witt, the hardest working guy in my newsroom, wrapped up early voting in Guilford County.

In Wilmington, Shelby Sebens does a story left incomplete on my to-do list and looks at local donors to the campaigns. Asheville's Jordan Schrader checked in with the light governor candidates - all the politics but one-third the power of an actual governor, fabulous for those of us trying to cut back on our political calorie intake.

And I would be remiss in omitting that for those who want to listen to their political coverage, WUNC's Laura Leslie has great gobs of political radio over at her joint.

Meanwhile, Here's my story from today's paper on Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory's race for Moldy Manner:

RALEIGH - It wasn't long after the May primary that Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory found a mantra for his run at the governor's mansion.

"My top priority as governor will be jobs, jobs, jobs," the Republican says in an ad he released this August.

Topics that dominated in the GOP primary - illegal immigration, road construction, inefficiency and corruption in state government - still have their place in his campaign against Democratic Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue. But it's the ailing economy, along with job creation, that has dominated McCrory's campaign rhetoric since before public school students went back to class this year.

Political strategists credit that focus for putting McCrory in a position to do something that the last four Charlotte mayors to try failed to do and that no Republican has managed in 16 years: win a race for governor.

"McCrory has benefited tremendously from his positioning on the issues," said Brad Crone, a Raleigh-based political strategist who works mainly for Democratic candidates. "Even before the financial meltdown, (polls showed) the number one issue was jobs and the economy."

The same financial crisis that forced the federal government to bail out some of the country's largest financial institutions and partially nationalize some banks has hit home for Tar Heels. The state's unemployment rate climbed to 7 percent in September, credit for home loans has become scarce, foreclosures are on the rise, and even some of the state's most stalwart companies, such as Wachovia, have been forced to merge with competitors.

It's not that Perdue was not talking about jobs. But she was also talking about an ambitious health care program to cover uninsured children, stem cell research, extending free community college tuition to in-state students and a bevy of other topics.

Click here for the whole thing.