News-Record.com

Boys and girls, the politicians are getting all creative in the run-up to Christmas. We take you now to the Democratic primary for governor, where Bev Perdue and Richard Moore are battling it out.

First there was this YouTube video from Perdue, claiming Moore was responsible for the Randy Parton mess.

Then Moore campaign comes back with a little poem:

When on my computer there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.

Away to Youtube to watch a video in Flash,

An attack ad at Christmas seemed awfully rash.

Baseless vitriol filling the monitor's glow

Gave the lustre of Jesse Helms to objects below

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a Perdue contributor, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a stupid old letter, so grouchy and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be a trick.

Full poem here.

Actual response here.

Cross-posted from Capital Beat:

I just got this e-mail from political consulting firm Fetzer Stephens:

"As of the first of this year, Fetzer Stephens is no longer engaged with the Graham for Governor Committee. We have appreciated the opportunity to work with the Graham Campaign and we wish them well in 2008."

The firm is one of the big dogs in North Carolina Republican circles, working for the likes of Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr. So what gives?

"There's no sour relationship," said campaign spokesman Aaron Lay. Fetzer Stephens was part of Graham's "Stop the Gas Tax" push last year, and had been managing much of the campaign as a lead consultant up through the New Year.

Graham's new campaign manager, Marty Ryall came on board this week. Other consultants include Strategic Perceptions.

Update: Just in from the Graham campaign:

January 4, 2008 - SALISBURY, NC - Marty Ryall, Campaign Manager for Bill Graham for Governor, issued the following statement today. "Through a cordial and mutual agreement we are no longer working with Fetzer Stephens. We appreciate the work Tom and Mark have done for the campaign and we wish them all the best in the future."

Cross-posted at Capital Beat.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has been flirting with a run for governor for a good couple months now. The Meck Deck, Charlotte blog of the John Locke Foundation, picked up a hot tip and e-mailed it out (complete with Drudge-report siren) to us scruffy media types:

Interesting rumor du jour is that Mayor Pat McCrory will have a press conference next week in Jamestown, NC.

Why Jamestown - near High Point - of all places? McCrory went to Ragsdale High in Jamestown, where he kicked off his political career by being student body president. Kinda sounds like a set-piece to announce a run for governor, does it not?

Read the whole post here.

Another good reason for McCrory to launch in Jamestown: gets that Charlotte patina off him. From what long-time Republicans tells me, the GOP base is a bit skeptical of the big city mayor coming out to the territories telling folks who it ought to be done. Announcing in Jamestown would play up his connection to the Triad as well as show that he's more than just about Charlotte.

Meanwhile, the Charlotte paper reports McCrory is ramping up his Facebook presence. (Facedook page.) Charlotte also writes that McCrory has been sopping up local support for his run.

UNC-TV this week hosts the first of three forums with the candidates for govenror they will air. Time is 8 p.m. on Thursday night. Both Democrats and Republicans will be featured.

Click here for more info.

I've been trying to run down whether there was anything more firm to be said about Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory's rumored entry into the Republican primary for governor. I had the shortest of conversations with his (mayor) campaign manager, Victoria Smith, which began with "We're not going to making any comments" and ended with "I really can't comment, just stay tuned."

State Treasurer Richard Moore and Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue played their latest game of "Good idea / Bad idea" today.

No, not this game:

But it's sort of similar. In the Tar Heel Politics version, one candidate for governor comes out with a policy proposal saying it's a "good idea" and another candidate for governor explains why they think it's a "bad idea," usually with some personal thrown in for good measure.

In today's version, Moore sends out the following "good idea":

RALEIGH - State Treasurer Richard Moore, candidate for governor, today announced a three-step process for reforming North Carolina’s Department of Transportation.

Moore's plan calls for DOT to establish metrics that measure the need for and effectiveness of new road projects, the elimination of legislative transportation slush funds that have little oversight and a ban on political fundraising by DOT board members.

"Effectively addressing our transportation needs starts with removing politics from our transportation decisions," said Moore. "We need to focus on building roads where they are needed - not where political insiders want them."

A recent report from McKinsey Consulting found the Department of Transportation is overly political and bureaucratic, which leads to stagnation and inefficiency. North Carolina faces massive transportation needs, with estimates reaching a $122 billion price tag over the next 25 years.

Okay, now you know what's coming. A few hours later, Perdue's campaign sent out the "bad idea" portion of our program:

"Bev Perdue believes we should look at comprehensive campaign finance reform. That should include restrictions on contributions from those affiliated with DOT as well as restrictions on contributions from the state's investment advisors," said Bev Perdue spokesman David Kochman.

"Given his $1.4 million in contributions from Wall Street and now the Randy Parton Theatre, Richard Moore trying to lead the parade on campaign finance reform is like Paris Hilton trying to lead the parade on good taste," added Kochman.

Also worth noting is that Richard Moore has accepted at least $24,000 from current DOT board members and their families (News & Observer, 8/19/07)

You catch that bit about investment advisors? Yeah, that's a reference to Moore getting somewhere north of $700,000 in campaign contributions from those who manage the state pension funds or their relatives. (Moore has repeatedly said campaign donations do not affect what investment firms the state uses.)

If you only paid attention to the back-biting, you might miss the fact that these two crazy kids actually agree on something: that the state ought to be doing something to restrict the flow of campaign donations from a politically powerful state board that decides whether you have eight lanes of asphalt or a dirt road coming through your town.

Perhaps this will be some fodder for Thursday's debate.

Cross-posted from Capital Beat:

The Charlotte Observer was the first to report that Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory had filed the paperwork needed to raise and spend money for a run for governor.

Filing such paperwork doesn't commit one to a campaign or even get one's name on the ballot. But it is a leading indicator - people don't generally file campaign finance paperwork just for fun.

Previously.

In response to all the buzz that filing a little paperwork can get you, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory's campaign put out this statement tonight:

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, in compliance with State Board of Election Law, has filed organizational papers which allows him to raise funds and explore the opportunity for a possible run for North Carolina Governor.

This is only the first step in the process for statewide office as required by law.

Pat McCrory will announce his intentions within the next week.

The Mayor is currently attending a meeting of the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition, a group of Mayors from throughout the state. This is an organization which McCrory established and organized six years ago.

They are discussing finding viable solutions to transportation congestion, gang-related crime, the environment and other issues important to towns and cities across North Carolina.

McCrory will return back in Charlotte late Thursday afternoon.

Most of you will read this post the morning after the debate among gubernatorial candidates. There will certainly be lots of accounts out there.

First off, UNC-TV did well by us scruffy media types hosting the thing, providing wireless access in the building and all that. So thanks to them.

This post will cover the GOP candidates, who went first Thursday night.

The Republicans - former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham, and state Sen. Fred Smith - recycled a lot of their material from prior debates. I think there were a few new wrinkles here and there, but the bulk of what came up in their portion of the program I'd heard before.

I did find one part of the debate pretty interesting. The candidates were asked about immigration policy. Smith and Graham were pretty hard-line. Each gave a nod to the whole "nations of immigrants" concept, but their answers had more to do with law and order.

Orr also said that immigration laws needed to be enforced. But he was the only one to say that a lot of our state's businesses were using illegal labor and that their needs had to be taken into account.

Quotes and audio:

• * Smith: "We're a nation that needs to protect our borders... We've got a governor and president of the community college system that's picking and choosing which laws they want to enforce." Click here to listen to his full remarks.

• * Graham: "We have hundreds of thousands of illegals in our state. It's putting pressure on hospitals, it's putting pressure on schools, it's putting pressure on our infrastructure. We are a nation of laws and when people come to America they come here and expect we obey the rule of law...we have to insist they obey the rules."
  Click here to listen to his full remarks.

• * Orr: "The reality is that many of our large farmers, both in the east and tree farmers, Christmas tree farmers in the west, construction industries are using illegal immigrants in their workforce ... We've got to work on improving those programs that provide for legal immigrants to come to the United States to work."
  Click here to listen to his full remarks.

Yes, there was some substance to the Democratic side of the UNC-TV debate Thursday night. As it turns out, Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue and State Treasurer Richard Moore agree on many key issues.

What people will be talking about are the barbs that Perdue and Moore were lobbing at one another. This debate got a little rough and tumble.

Now, here's the thing. Not a lot of these barbs are new. The two Democrats' campaign teams have been slinging this stuff for months now.

What happened Thursday night is that Perdue and Moore took ownership of all the mud that's been slung. No longer is it just a faceless press release or a campaign operative making the accusations, it's the candidates themselves. If there was any doubt, they own all of this lock, stock and barrel now.

Because of the debate format, the initial punch and reaction aren't side-by-side in the tape. What I've done is taken the relevant smack and come back and put them next to each other on the audio. (I'm think you'll be able to tell which is Perdue and which is Moore:

• * In this clip, Perdue criticizes Moore for his involvement, or lack thereof in the Randy Parton Theater deal in Roanoke Rapids. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

• * In this clip, Perdue introduces her college promises plan. Moore then jumps on that, saying the tuition affordability plan only offsets tuition increases Perdue helped create. Perdue responds that Moore is ill informed.

• *In this clip, Perdue suggests Moore has more in common with Wall Street players than North Carolinians. Moore comes back to remind Perdue she's not the Democrat born and raised in North Carolina.

Click here for the print version of my debate story.

Audio of Republicans here and Democrats here.

The fun and games for the Democrats didn't stop when the debate was over. Perdue and Moore kept right on swinging, rhetorically speaking, although they did shake hands.

• * Perdue was asked after the debate whether she thought her jab about the Parton theater was fair. "Yeah, I think it's fair. We're in a race for whose going to lead this state next time, and the people of NC want to know the facts about what's going on and what decisions are being made."

• * Richard Moore took issue with Public Policy Polling's latest survey that showed Perdue opening up a double-digit lead in the primary.

  "That polling outfit, I really don't think you guys should even be carrying it. A good poll does not use a computer," Moore said. He also noted that PPP's former chief pollster now works for the Perdue campaign.

• * "I just think it's very unfortunate that the Lt. Gov. doesn't want to debate me on the largest tv station in North Carolina...I'm a little frustrated she doesn't want to participate in the Democratic process," Moore said.
  Perdue was asked about this.
  "I am debating myself to death right now ... I'm tickled to death to do this one," Perdue said. She noted there were other forums, including two more by WUNC and one with the NAACP coming up.

Of note on the Republican side:

• * The GOP candidates stuck mainly to policy and to the questions they were asked. I don't know if this is some sort of commitment to civility play or whether they hadn't figured out how to go on the attack with only 90 seconds per question.

• * Sen. Fred Smith's hair was not so much the preternatural shade of black that we scruffy media types had grown accustom to. This is completely superficial, but the more natural grey-brown he sported Thursday night suited him.

• * All three GOP candidates said taxes were too high, roads were too congested and water was too scarce. And all said they would lower taxes and pave more roads. None of the three was so clear on what to do about the water thing, except that growth needs to be controlled.

Finally, the next UNC-TV debate is on Feb. 7 and will focus on health care. If you might want to watch with larger group and give your thoughts afterward, drop me a line at mark.binker@news-record.com.

The Charlotte paper says Mayor Pat McCrory is coming to Jamestown on Tuesday.

Scott Mooneyham says it's awful late for McCrory to be getting in the game.

I don't disagree with Mooneyham entirely, but I think the dynamics of a four way race give McCrory a fallback position. With four credible candidates in the race, they would all probably be playing first to make a run-off election. Avoiding a runoff off would be a bonus.

In North Carolina, you have to win 40 percent of the primary vote to avoid a primary election runoff. If McCrory steps into the race, that's a hard number for any of the candidates to get to.

Between name recognition and a geographic base, McCrory should have enough votes for a top-two finish. At that point the Democratic nominee will almost certainly be chosen. So Republican voters will then get to choose which of their remaining candidates match up best with whoever the Democrats have. My guess is that's an election where McCrory would excel. The question for him is whether he could win over the hard-core Republicans who are more likely to vote in such an affair.

If you belive in polls PPP says McCrory is ahead among GOP contenders for governor. However, there is a big caveat for McCrory:

What's interesting about McCrory's rise is that he still hasn't gained any support outside his base. His increase is attributable to rising support in the Charlotte area. Last month his standing in his home region was 44%. Now it's up to 57%. He's received an amazing amount of media coverage locally as he's contemplated the campaign and that attention is improving his numbers.

State Treasurer and Democratic candidate for governor Richard Moore is going to put a 2 minute ad on during the Sunday morning political chat shows. His campaign gave reporters a preview although not a copy today. Here's the text:

I'm Richard Moore. Soon we'll be choosing a new governor, and I want you to know why I'm running and how I'll manage our state.

As state treasurer, I've been directly accountable to more than 700,000 public employees — teachers, police officers, you name it. They know what kind of results I've delivered, protecting their retirement and building one of the nation's strongest pension funds and making real reforms that allowed our state to invest millions more in education and health care. As governor, I will bring this same accountability to all of state government.

Look, we all agree what the big issues are: health care, schools, and creating good jobs. The big difference will be how our next governor approaches those challenges. The answer is not just spending more money and making more promises. It's about making better decisions, addressing our challenges head on and delivering results.

My top education priority will be to cut the High School dropout rate in half by teaching real job skills and holding our schools accountable. We will build schools faster and smarter with my school construction plan, saving millions to invest in quality teachers and reduced class size.

We will make sure every single child in North Carolina has health insurance, no excuses. We will improve the quality of health care by reducing waste and medical errors.

And we will build roads where they're needed, not where political insiders want them. It's time to end the slush funds and stop making transportation decisions behind closed doors based on special interests.

State government ought to spend less time studying problems and more time solving them. We need to stop pointing fingers and start pointing North Carolina in a new direction.

To do that, requires a governor willing to make tough decisions, a governor willing to take a different approach. Starting day 1, that's what I'll do.

Two minutes is a loooooong time for a campaign ad, which is why you're only going to see this one air Sunday morning. Reduxed 30-second versions will begin airing Monday.

Moore's campaign said they will spend about $200,000 a week on ads.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, Moore's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, is scheduled to go on the air Monday but her campaign has refused to preview or release copies of the ad.

Republican candidate for governor Bill Graham put out a call for a fetal homicide law in North Carolina today. (Click here for the news release.) The call was inspired, he said, largely by the case of a pregnant marine who went missing recently and was eventually found dead. The family of woman killed in another high profile case has called for such a law. Background from NCSL here.

One reason that people object to fetal homicide laws is that they fear it is a gateway to making abortion illegal. The logic goes that if you can be punished for killing an unborn child by killing the mother, that's not such a large leap from any situation in which a fetus is killed.

Graham says there can be "medical exceptions" drafted into the legislation that would avoid that debate.

North Carolina law says that if someone knowingly harms a pregnant woman in the commission of a crime and that leads to a stillbirth or miscarriage, the perpetrator can be prosecuted under a higher felony level - essentially the person can be punished more severely. But it is only an element of the same crime, not a separate charge.

Graham was already scheduled to stop by my office this morning so this was pretty much the first thing I asked him about. I have two bits of video for you. In part one, I asked him about the law and suggested he might get some push-back on it because of the abortion angle:

This was the answer to a follow up question I asked about fetal homicide laws being gateways to outright abortion bans:

So far, Graham's campaign has focused on economic issues: lowering taxes, building roads, lowering the high school dropout rate (yes, that's an economic issue). This is his first foray into the social policy arena and may win him some attention from more conservative Republicans who want to hear about that basket of issues in addition to taxes.

From the Democratic primary for governor, here are the first two ads out of the box.

Perdue's first ad:

Click here for more the text of Perdue's ad.

Moore's first ad:

Click here for more on Moore's ad.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory made his campaign official today after a month of doing his best Hamlet imitation: To be, or not to be, a Republican candidate for governor.

Alas, poor Yorik, his opening lines got stepped on by a passing train rolling through Jamestown.

"We knew the train was coming sooner or later," McCrory said.

Same could be said of all the speculation surrounding his campaign for the past two months.

I've been talking to various Republican officials for a story in tomorrow's paper. Most are convinced that a run-off is now inevitable, since the four front-running candidates now in the race are credible and will be slicing up the same 1 million or so voter pie. No one candidate, at this point, looks capable of pulling off 40 percent of the vote in the first go around which means a June 24 second primary would be in store.

I'm writing a story for this weekends papers (tentatively scheduled for Saturday but these things change) about how the leading candidates would deal with the state's current water shortage and what they would do to plan for the future.

(Update: I told you these things change. The water story is now slated for Sunday. Update2: And they change again. The story is now slated for Monday.)

Why am I writing this story? Other than it's a pretty timely topic - despite the snow and rain that's been falling this week - it's a question that was on the mind of Vivian Robinson of Jamestown. She wrote:

I would like to hear what all the candidates have to say on our exceptional drought problem and what they would do to help in the future.

Ask a question, get an answer. Pretty sweet, no?

Well, if you have a question for one of the candidates for governor, drop me a line by way of the comments link below or e-mail me at mark.binker@news-record.com. No, I can't promise I'll turn every question I get into a story, but I'll try to get to all the serious-mind policy queries I can.

In this story for Monday's paper, the front-running candidates who are in the Republican or Democratic for governor offer up what they would do to combat the drought.

Now it's your turn. Did any of the candidates slake your thirst for an answer? Or did you want to hear more from those who would lead the state?

Two of the three Democrats running for governor have offered up their own health care proposals. Here are summaries and links to their online versions:

Richard Moore

Treasurer Richard Moore makes three broad proposals on health care by way of his web site: establishing a high risk pool to help cover the uninsured, offer health insurance to every child in the state and make health insurance more affordable for small businesses.

More on his plans for covering children can be found in this PDF.

Moore has also offered a plan to reduce preventable medical errors. In essence, he would stop state payments to hospitals for the treatment associated with preventable medical errors. In other words, if the hospital screws up, it has to pay the cost of getting the patient better.

Bev Perdue

Perdue, the sitting lieutenant governor, says on her web site that her goal is "to make North Carolina the healthiest state in America. While progress has been made, much more remains to be done - particularly in making insurance more affordable and accessible to North Carolina's families and small businesses."

Her detailed plan includes universal coverage for children, helping small businesses buy health insurance for their employees and increasing the amount of preventive care available. (Click here for a PDF.)

Dennis Nielsen

Nielsen is a long-shot candidate for governor. His website does not mention health or healthcare.

Each of the four Republicans running for governor have offered up their own health care proposals. Here are summaries and links to their online versions:

Bill Graham

The Salisburry lawyer writes on his web site:

WE must develop a market-based, consumer-driven reform plan that makes health insurance more affordable. As governor, I would institute a community risk pool for all uninsured North Carolinians. By doing so, WE can spread the risk among a large population and be able to offer affordable private health plans to our citizens, much like a large company would do for its employees. Similar pools already exist in other states on a smaller level. WE can do this for the uninsured citizens of North Carolina. As governor, I can broker affordable and accessible health care plans with private insurers who do business in our state by leveraging the combined bargaining power of our citizens and state government.

Pat McCrory

McCrory, the Charlotte mayor who just entered the race in January, does not mention health care on the issues page of his web site, but in a statement to WRAL in advance of an earlier debate, McCrory did write that he would liketo "ensure that every North Carolina resident has easy access to quality, affordable health care."

Bob Orr

The former Supreme Court justice writes on his web site: "We must work in concert with the private sector and our world class academic institutions to implement policies that maximize North Carolina's competitive advantages in providing quality care and driving growth and innovation in the medical field. Over the next two decades, we must revitalize our health care system, expand preventive care, and adopt a market-based approach to health insurance."

Fred Smith

The state senator writes on his web site that there are five things the state ought to do, including: "Use Health Savings Accounts to make healthcare consumer-driven. HSAs allow for more flexibility, individual control, tax savings, and future medical savings. Businesses are also using them with increasing effectiveness to cut costs," and "Reform medical liability laws. North Carolina's leading doctors should help shape those laws - not trial lawyers - so that good doctors can quit practicing defensive medicine."

Where as Republican candidate Fred Smith brings 'cue and slaw on the campaign stump, former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr brings is due to bring his own brand of cerebral campaigning to bear locally this week:

Retired North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a 2008 Republican gubernatorial candidate, will visit with students, faculty and staff at Elon University School of Law from 5:30-7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 31. The event will take place in room 207 of the law school, located at 201 North Greene Street in downtown Greensboro. Orr¹s visit is sponsored by Elon Law Republicans.

Orr was appointed to the N.C. Court of Appeals in 1986 and served until his election to the N.C. Supreme Court in 1994. He was reelected in 2002 and retired in 2004 to lead the newly formed N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law.

UNC TV will air a debate among the candidates for governor - Republicans and Democrats - Thursday, Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. For more, info on the UNC debates click here.

This is one of three UNC is doing and this next one will concern healthcare and health policy. The candidates all have their own ideas for what needs to be done in the healthcare arena. (Click here for links to the Democrats' proposals. And click here for links to the Republicans'.)

I was interested in what you readers thought ought to be on their agenda. Earlier this week, we sent out a message via our Reader Advisory Network asking what the candidates should be tackling.

To get the discussion started here, I thought I'd share some of those comments.

The best way to "fix" health care, in my opinion, is to make medical care providers compete: disclose prices of procedures so that people can shop around. As it is, health care providers simply send us a bill and expect us to pay it no matter how outrageous. We also need to have more people buying their own health insurance, instead of relying on employer health insurance. Rather than having employers paying for health insurance, give employees the amount that would be paid on their behalf and let them shop around to buy the plan that best fits their needs (why should a single male pay for maternity care as part of his employer's "one size fits all" health plan). - Paul Daniels

-=-

The State needs a universal healthcare plan that could cover all uninsured persons in the state. I propose lumping all uninisured persons into a giant group and having the insurance companies bid on it. Low bid with the most coverage gets the business. Those who can pay the premium can pay it. These would be small business owners or employees of companies who do not now offer health plans. The company could contribut if it so chose. The State could and should help fund those who cannot pay themselves due to lack of sufficient income. - Charles Hook

-=-

Any firefighter would tell you it is less costly and certainly less risky to prevent fires than to extinguish them once ablaze. Likewise, any sensible healthcare policy would include strategies and provisions dedicated to prevention and early detection of disease. Practical policy prescriptions would include subsidized or free pre-natal care and well-baby visits, free if not mandatory screening for common cancers, and other preventative measures for the uninsured. The key is to reduce the number of times uninsured people use emergency rooms as doctors' offices. - Robert Goldberg

-=-

In response to your question, the next Gov should define what is meant by "quality health care." Once done, it should be made affordable to all citizens. How? Begin with health care savings accounts....pre-tax savings accounts invested in approved accounts, or allow a portion of 401k's to go towards health expenses tax free. - Stephen Jones

-=-

I think behavioral health is getting too big a slice of the pie, while our elderly keep getting their services tightened.Many young people on public assistance have learned to play the game: working just enough to qualify for housing and child care assistance but not working enough to get off assistance. The middle class has to shoulder too much of the tax burden.soon now the camel's back will break. - Sandy Thomas

-=-

I think one of the critical issues with health care is the fact that some seniors on a limited fixed income just don't have the money to purchase prescription drugs that are necessary for the health and safety. The cost of priscription drugs for seniors should be a number one priority for all of the future governors. - Paul E Sams

-=-

I think than all the talk about heath Care is just a mask for bigger government, either in increasing taxes or gain more control over people's lives.
You are to young to remember the days when almost NO ONE had health insurance. Health insurance became a perk for those being sought after to join a company, now it has morphed into a right. This is socialist creep that has taken away our liberties and changed capitalism into a thoughtful memory of the past. - Marcus Kindley

-=-

If someone saw the movie "Sicko" and they did not leave the theatre ticked off about the state of health care in this country, then that individual is either an executive with a health care company or they are in a coma. Everyone should be covered, period, no exceptions. For those that say that they do not want "Canadian" health care, I have family members with relatives in Canada. I do not hear horror stories from my Canadian relatives about problems with their health care system. If you have an emergency, you get treated. If it's not an emergency, you take your place in line, but you don't have to spend hours in an emergency room for a runny nose because you do not have health insurance. We have the greatest country in the world, but if you are poor, you cannot go to see a doctor? - Jim Galler

Now it's your turn. Just click on the comment link below to join the conversation. In the mean time, I'll be working on rounding up links to all the candidate's various health care proposals.

A few months back, Lt. Gov. Perdue accused State Treasure Richard Moore of using state resources, namely computers and internet, for his campaign for governor. At around the same time, Moore accused the Perdue of the same. Both Moore and Perdue are democrats and both want to be the one to replace Gov. Mike Easley. Who's going to win this little spat? I'll give you a hint: it's not a Democrat.

Click here for the history of this particular tit-for-tat.

So both campaigns call on the state auditor, Republican Les Merritt, to settle this political squabble about political squabbling. (State Democrats, by the way, have accused Merritt of his own political surfing at work.)

Merritt has come back today with reports on both Moore's and Perdue's activities. The conclusions:

Click here for Sunday's story on health care and the candidate's for governor.

Previously:

Readers views on health care.

Republican candidate's positions on health care.

Democratic candidate's positions.

Your thoughts are welcome at the comments link below.

Following up from an earlier story and posts, two Republican candidates for governor have offered up detailed health care proposals. That's in advance of tonight's tonight's health care debate on UNC-TV.

Bill Graham held a news conference in downtown Raleigh today to give his pitch, which focuses on creating community risk pools. Essentially, Graham wants to let churches, civic clubs, employers, etc... band together to form insurance pools that will make the purchase of insurance cheaper.

There's no online link yet (although the color booklet is very nice) but I'll post one when I get it. Update: Here's the link. (PDF)

Bob Orr made his pitch by way of an e-mail announcement that linked to his plan. As is typical for Orr, his thoughts are detailed and multi-faceted. The highlights that I've picked out so far include increasing the number of doctors and nurses available to treat those in need by working to train more medical professionals, emphasizing preventative care and decreasing the cost of insurance be reducing coverage mandates.

Coverage mandates are things that an insurer has to cover if they sell you a policy in North Carolina. The most recent addition to that list - mental health care.

Democrats Bev Perdue and Richard Moore have already offered their plans while Republicans Fred Smith and Pat McCrory seem to have some broad brushstrokes in place.

You can catch tonight's debate at 8 p.m. if you have UNC's digital channel, or at 10 p.m. on the regular broadcast.

During Thursday's debate among Republican candidates for governor, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said something curious.

"Mental health is one of those areas where I think the best way to do it is the trend that's been occurring in the last several years where we're transferring some of that responsibility and decision making down to the local level where it's closest to the customer and I think there has been some good trends in that area during the past two or three years including in Mecklenburg County," McCrory said.

That "trend" is what's known more broadly as mental health reform.

I don't know if McCrory is the only politician in the state who thinks that mental health reform is working, but he was the only politician at the debate who does. (For background you can read my stuff or just Google.)

The responses came quickly from McCrory's opponents. First at bat was former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr.

"Mental health reform may have worked in Charlotte but I can assure you it has not worked around North Carolina. Mental health reform has been an absolute disaster in this state," Orr said.

Then state Sen. Fred Smith: "The mental health system in state is in crisis."

Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham: "I'm glad the state has finally come to the conclusion they need to fix the problem they created in the first place...Mental health is a disaster and broken."

Now, Orr, Smith and Graham aren't exactly a namby-pamby crew. So if they're saying a social service safety net is broken, it's probably pretty stressed.

Click here to listen to the whole exchange. McCrory is up first.

For those who missed the health care debate on UNC-TV Thursday:

• * Click here to listen to the Republican side.
• * Click here to listen to the Democratic side.

I may have some more thoughts - including this exchange on mental health by the Republicans - but you can also find some good coverage:

• * From dome, who noted one of my smart aleck remarks.

• * The barkeep has also weighed in.

Plus, there will be coverage galore in the morning papers, I'm sure.

Debates stories from:

• * News & Record.
• * The N+O.
• * Winston-Salem Journal.
• * The AP. (This WRAL site also has some video, but you can listen to the full audio here.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has hired Jack Hawke, a long-time Republican operative, as his chief strategist. Hawke used to run the Civitas Institute until a couple weeks ago. As well, he is a former Republican Party Chairman and has run for office himself. From the McCrory release:

"I'm hawkish on Hawke because of Jack's experience and winning record." said McCrory.

Hawke's first order of business: ensure the campaign no longer uses bad puns in their press releases.

Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue was