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The Perdue-McCrory debate produced by WTVD last night was very good. Too bad no Triad stations picked up the broadcast. I had to watch on the Web.

I scored the debate in Pat McCrory's favor. Counting opening and closing statements and answers to a dozen questions, I thought he won 6 rounds, Beverly Perdue won 2 and 6 were even.

McCrory's opening statement set the tone. He started by noting a Democratic attack ad on TV that's labeling him as dangerous for North Carolina. He said he thought the real dangers to the state are posed by gangs and crime, poor roads, a failing mental-health system and corruption in state government. McCrory effectively pursued those themes for the next hour.

Perdue began her opener with platitudes about education, jobs and health care, but she finished a bit stronger when she declared herself a "fighter" for the people of North Carolina.

The candidates pretty much battled to a draw, in my view, on questions about the economy, globalization, immigration, dropouts and open space and water. Immigration was maybe a surprise because McCrory has taken a hard line on that issue, but Perdue matched him.

Perdue claims an advantage in health care -- in fact, she twice called herself "the health-care leader in North Carolina for the past eight years" -- but McCrory answered with a strong reference to the state's mental-health debacle, an example of mismanagement that's cost hundreds of millions of dollars and dozens of lives. As lieutenant governor, Perdue actually wasn't in charge of that, but if she's going to declare herself the state's health-care leader for the past eight years, she's inviting trouble.

McCrory was positive on the question of drilling for oil and gas, which he favors off North Carolina's coast for its economic benefits. Perdue echoed a line out of the latest Democratic playbook: She favors drilling on the 68 million acres already leased (not off the N.C. coast) and would want assurances that drilling would be safe off our coast (in the "Graveyard of the Atlantic") before agreeing to allow it. Dem Congressman Brad Miller used identical language in an interview with us yesterday. It's a nuanced position that leaves lots of room to maneuver, but it was good enough for me to call this category a draw.

McCrory probably was at his best on the issues of open government and crime. Perdue said all the right things in answering questions on those topics, but McCrory deftly pointed out quite correctly that Democratic Gov. Mike Easley and the Democratic legislature have not been champions of open government. Perdue didn't try to defend them. On crime, McCrory recounted the frustrations he and other mayors had for years trying to get the governor and legislators to pass tougher laws to deal with gangs. He also mentioned the Eve Carson murder case as evidence of the broken criminal-justice system.

I thought Perdue came back near the end to offer better answers to two questions I thought she might flub: capital punishment and the gas tax. Perdue adamantly stated her support for the death penalty but explained why it's been necessary to put it on hold for a while. McCrory did pluck at emotions by talking about the cases of murdered Charlotte police offers where the killers have yet to be dealt with, but I thought he was clumsier on this difficult issue.

McCrory should have hit the gas tax question out of the park, but instead he went off on the income tax and claimed that bordering states Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia don't have an income tax, putting North Carolina at a competitive disadvantage. That's true for Tennessee but not for S.C. and Va. Their income tax rates are lower, but they do have them.

Overall, however, McCrory handled himself very well and effectively took advantage of opportunities to rebut Perdue. She tried to hit him with haymakers about his support for school vouchers and opposition to the lottery but didn't connect for lack of time to elaborate. But both conducted themselves very civilly, giving viewers a better understanding of their views and personalities.

Addendum: It's good timing for us that Perdue will be here later this morning for an interview.

Update, 12:45: Perdue was personable and gracious as always during our interview. She pointed out that references to herself as North Carolina's health leader come from her position as leader of the state's Health and Wellness Trust Fund. That agency was not responsible for mental health reform. Perdue places responsibility for that issue in the governor's office.

Our interview was videotaped, and excerpts will go on the Web at some point.