No matter which side you're on, you've got to feel a little sorry for Pat McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte and the Republican nominee for governor. So nice a fellow. Young and promising. Smart, too. And then, right there at a gubernatorial debate, McCrory did the one thing that's simply unthinkable in North Carolina. He appeared, at least, to criticize Andy Griffith.

Saying that he was a fan of "The Andy Griffith Show" and the show business icon's other performing careers, McCrory then said, "There is one political reality in North Carolina, and that is every four years about a week or two before the gubernatorial election, Andy Griffith the actor recommends one of the candidates." (Griffith's a Democrat who has made campaign commercials for Governor Easley and Lieutenant Governor Perdue, McCrory's opponent.)

Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat.

Then McCrory said the character of Mayberry's Sheriff Taylor would today talk about gangs in small towns and the "revolving door" in the criminal justice system and that Otis the town drunk might not have his own cell and would be incarcerated with "maybe 15 or 20 other very, very dangerous people."

Say...the mayor does know he's talking about a television show, right?

Good grief. What's next? Surely McCrory will not now reckon that Cleveland County's banjo king Earl Scruggs needs a little more practice on the old five-string before he's ready for the big time.

Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat.

Because we would like a good dialogue in the governor's race, a mutually respectful exchange of ideas from two good and qualified candidates, we'd like to see McCrory minimize his damage here and focus on the issues. Perhaps if he began his next 10 or so speeches with "As Barney Fife used to reckon..." or "It's sorta like Ernest T. Bass used to say when he'd toss a rock through the courthouse window..."

Even so, this year it probably won't be, as McCrory put it, "a week or two before the election" before he sees Andy Griffith in another campaign commercial.