Perdue, a fellow Democrat and her party's nominee to succeed Easley, has subtly been dissing Easley in her speeches for weeks.

"I'm going to be such a different governor than we've seen," she told a Concord crowd in August. "I'm going to be hands-on. I'm going to be active and engaged."

OK, not so subtly, given that she's underscoring Easley's tendency to rarely leave the Executive Mansion. Last week, in a meeting with the News & Observer editorial board, Perdue was asked: Has Easley been a good governor?

"Wow! Why don't you go for the jugular?" she responded. "I'm not in the business of judging governors."

N&O Executive Editor John Drescher pointed out that, moments before, she had praised Max Gardner, who was governor during the Great Depression.

"Well, he's dead," Perdue responded.

Then she added, "I've watched Mike Easley very closely. I've watched George Bush. I don't even say he's a terrible president, just a bad president. I really am so different than Mike Easley that I don't believe I can fairly say to you that he's been a bad governor. I can say to you that he's done some exceptionally important things, and I'm proud of his leadership on those issues. As you know, the governor and I are not real partners. The way I'm elected [in a separate vote], I'm a free agent. I haven't been part and parcel of anything with the administration, and that's the way it is. And I promise you that whoever's lieutenant governor with me will have a different role, a different role."

Obama leads in ad spending

Barack Obama is spending more on ads in North Carolina.

According to the latest figures from the Wisconsin Advertising Project, the Obama campaign spent $1.2 million in North Carolina advertising between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4, while John McCain's campaign spent $148,000.

That's about an 8-to-1 advantage in spending for Obama.

Nationwide, Obama spent roughly $17.4 million to McCain's $10.8 million in the same time period. In 15 states the project labels as "battleground" -- including North Carolina --the spending is closer, with Obama at $8.1 million to McCain's $6.5 million.

Obama North Carolina campaign spokesman Paul Cox declined to talk about advertising strategy, but he said that Obama's success is attributable to more than money.

"One of our greatest sources of strength is our grass-roots organization," Cox said, pointing to the campaign's 45 offices and 17,000 active volunteers in the state. "We are reaching out to virtually every area of the state."

The McCain campaign did not return a call for comment.

Close races in N.C.

The presidential race remains closely contested in North Carolina.

According to five polls taken since Oct. 4, the race between McCain and Obama is either tied or within a few points.

Polls by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, Rasmussen and the conservative Civitas Institute showed Obama ahead by 1 to 5 percentage points -- close to the margin of sampling error.

A poll by CNN and Time magazine showed the race tied, while SurveyUSA gave McCain a 3-point lead.

Skewing the numbers, perhaps, is whether the poll included Libertarian Bob Barr, the only third-party candidate who will be on the ballot. When he was included in polls, Obama did slightly better.

Recent polls in the U.S. Senate race appear to give the advantage to Democrat Kay Hagan. She is ahead of Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole by 3 points in the Civitas poll, 5 points in the Rasmussen poll, 9 points in the Public Policy Polling survey.

A SurveyUSA poll, however, had Dole up by 1 point.

The governor's race also remains close, with a recent poll by Public Policy Polling showing Perdue ahead by 3 points, while SurveyUSA and Civitas put Republican Pat McCrory ahead.

GOP registration slows

Republican voter registration this year has lagged behind previous election years.

A quick survey of voter registration in North Carolina shows that the number of new GOP voters has not increased as much during the past year as it did in the years leading up to the 2000 and 2004 elections.

* From October 1999 to October 2000, the number of registered Republicans went from 1,634,983 to 1,765,476 -- an 8 percent increase.

* From October 2003 to November 2004, the number of registered Republicans went from 1,723,633 to 1,903,119 -- a 10 percent increase.

* From December of 2007 to last week, the number of registered Republicans went from 1,919,575 to 1,967,441 -- a 2.5 percent increase.

By contrast, the number of Democrats increased 4 percent in 2000, 8 percent in 2004 and 10 percent this year. The number of unaffiliated voters went up 16 percent in 2000 and 2004 and 15 percent this year.

(Peter St. Onge of The Charlotte Observer)

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