Would-be governors eat, schmooze to last minute

The Republican and Democratic candidates for governor turned to airplanes, telephones and restaurants for their final day of trying to sway voters.

The Democratic candidates, who spent months knocking one another's records and trustworthiness, spent the day campaigning at stops between Raleigh and Charlotte that finally carried a common theme: food.

Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue dropped in on soul food and pizza joints. State Treasurer Richard Moore sampled barbecue and the K&W Cafeteria.

Perdue visited Mert's Heart and Soul restaurant in uptown Charlotte late Monday morning, shaking hands with diners enjoying baked chicken and salmon cakes. Some said she had their vote. Others were still pondering.

"I'll at least do more research on her now," diner Tripp Guin said. Mert's co-owner Renee Bazzelle praised Perdue's decision a month ago to end her negative ads.

"I want to hear the positive," Bazzelle said, "and what they're going to do for our city, our state, our country."

Perdue ended the day at Mellow Mushroom, a Raleigh pizza bistro with a psychedelic decor reminiscent of 1960s' peace activist decorations.

After weeks of debates, position papers and commercials, Anne Reel, a 32-year-old conference producer, made her decision to support Perdue -- based on a handshake and smile.

"She was very confident and very enthusiastic," Reel said.

Moore started the day with a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit at the State Farmers Market Restaurant in Raleigh. He spent the afternoon making stops at Stamey's Barbecue in Greensboro, for a sandwich with slaw, and in Winston-Salem for K&W pecan pie.

"I like that idea of tuition for other kids," said K&W employee Bryan Lee Clark, referring to Moore's proposal to give high school graduates two years of free community college tuition.

Moore said the expected large turnout, because of the Democratic presidential primary, has left campaigns wondering whether they reached their target audiences. "You did get the feeling from some folks that, 'I'm here to vote in the presidential race,' " Moore said, "'and I'm not quite sure who you are.' "

On the Republican side of the governor's race, state Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton worked the phones and conducted radio interviews. He had no public events scheduled for Monday.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory spoke to about 75 supporters in Jamestown, the Guilford County town where he grew up. He handed out store-bought cookies as a two-person band played acoustic music.

In a policy-focused 13-minute speech, McCrory said his gubernatorial campaign has been valuable regardless of today's outcome because he helped draw attention to crime. "Already, we've struck a chord on an issue that's facing each one of us," he said. "Already, it's been worth it."

He criticized Smith, his main rival for the Republican nomination, for running a radio ad that McCrory calls misleading. The ad suggests he would use the governor's office to help Charlotte rather than the state as a whole.

"The old-style North Carolina politics needs to now be more visionary," McCrory said.

Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham flew in a private jet from Wilmington to Raleigh, Greenville and Greensboro to meet with reporters and a handful of supporters at each stop.

Graham was a little annoyed that the gas tax -- his signature issue in the gubernatorial campaign -- has suddenly become a hot topic in the Democratic presidential primary.

"I also find it very ironic that some of the folks on the other side of the aisle have suddenly taken a huge interest in the issue," he said.

(Benjamin Niolet, Ryan Teague Beckwith, Helen Schwab and Dave Ingram contributed to this report.)