With the presidential campaign clogging televisions in North Carolina, the candidates for governor aren’t waiting to reserve commercial time this fall.

Republican Pat McCrory recently reserved $6 million in TV time from last week through the Nov. 6 election. Democrat Walter Dalton responded with his own advanced TV buy, saving about $1 million for the final month on the campaign.

McCrory is running a one-minute TV ad introducing himself to voters. Dalton is not on the airwaves. But his campaign said it would launch ads before October and eventually spend much more on TV.

The discrepancy in the numbers speaks volumes about the financial disparity in the governor’s race, with McCrory sitting on a war chest built from a lengthy campaign and Dalton scrambling for cash after jumping into the race earlier this year.

Conservatives court youths

A conservative group called Generation Opportunity has begun working to get engage young voters in North Carolina and several other states for the fall election.

The group has been using social media as well as traditional grass roots efforts to reach voters in the 18-29 age group to consider a more conservative message involving less taxes, less government and what they view as more pro-growth policies.

“The perception is that the president and his team captured this demographic in 2008, and that is accurate,” said Paul Conway, president of Generation Opportunity, which is based in Arlington, Va. “However, we say for 2012 that demographic is wide open.’’

He said that while the national unemployment rate is 8.3 percent, it is actually 12.7 percent for those in the 18-29 group and may be as high as 16.7 percent when those who are no longer looking for work are included.

In North Carolina, Obama won 74 percent of that age group last time, Conway said. Generation Opportunity is going after college and non college young people not only on campuses but at NASCAR events, and at agriculture fairs. It plans to release some polls in the coming weeks.

Conway said the group, a 501-(c)(4), will not endorse a candidate.

UNC grad handling Ryan’s press

Vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan’s traveling press secretary will be Michael Steel, a Durham native who is currently spokesman for Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Roll Call reported Saturday.

Steel, 32, received a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and worked for a time as a reporter for The National Journal.

Roll Call, which credits Buzzfeed for the first word on this, says Steel is one of the more visible House staffers in his role as the speaker’s chief spokesman to the news media.

Biden to speak midday Monday

Vice President Joe Biden will speak Monday at the Durham Armory at 12:45 p.m., the Obama campaign announced. The visit by Biden comes one day after Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a campaign bus tour through the state. The campaign news release said Biden will draw contrasts between Romney’s approach to the economy and that of President Barack Obama.

Obama camp talks to women

The Obama campaign held a women’s round table Friday in Raleigh to tout how the new health-care law would benefit women.

As a result of the new health care law, which started Aug. 1, insurance companies began covering eight new health services including contraception, well-woman visits and breast feeding support.

The campaign estimates that 1.35 million North Carolina women will benefit from this program.

“For decades, women in this country have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to access to quality, affordable health care,” state Rep. Jennifer Weiss of Cary said at the roundtable held at the Morning Times restaurant.

“President Obama recognized these problems and he did something about it. These changes won’t just save us money, they will help to save lives.”

Lisa Webb, an Obama supporter, said, “With preventive health screenings now covered by Obamacare, I hope to see a decrease in breast cancer victims. Early detection saves lives.”

The campaign said that under Obamacare, women are already getting many preventive health services, like mammograms and screenings for cervical cancer, without any co-pays or deductible.

Staff writers John Frank, Rob Christensen and Craig Jarvis

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