Easley keeps his own calendar, and he purposefully avoids a lot of appointments. He says he doesn't like distractions, things that break his concentration or focus.

Easley's quirky -- some say detached -- mode of operating was well known and chronicled when he took office. He shuns cutting ribbons, glad-handing or talking to reporters.

Easley and his supporters have a simple response: So what? For nearly eight years, Easley's low-profile style drew grumbling but served him well as he chalked up one legislative victory after another.

But Easley's final term is coming to a close, and a series of high-profile problems at agencies in his administration could overshadow his goals for his last nine months. In recent weeks, Easley's behind-the-scenes approach has often left silence instead of a commanding voice to answer questions and criticism. Most of the candidates running to succeed Easley as governor have made a point of how they would be different from Easley.

Over the past 18 months:

* Members of a key legislative committee said they had lost confidence in the Department of Transportation, one of the largest agencies in the Easley administration. The department spent millions to have a consultant change the way it operates.

* Overworked and understaffed probation offices in Durham and Wake counties lost track of two men who stand accused of killing the student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill. One of those men is also accused of killing a Duke University graduate student. The probation offices are part of the state Department of Correction, another agency in the Easley administration.

* The state Highway Patrol has turned into a punch line after news stories revealed that troopers had engaged in misconduct including sex on duty.

* The state's efforts to reform the mental health system plummeted into an expensive and deadly failure.

* Easley's response to the mental health problems led to a series of ongoing questions over his administration's handling of public records.

Easley has said the problems predated or were not caused by his administration, or he played down their significance. He emphasized that he is fixing the problems.

"I think any governor has to accept responsibility for things that go wrong," Easley said last week in an interview. "People don't want to see the governor out tap-dancing in the spotlight. ... They want to see a governor who's working, not who's cutting ribbons."

Achievements add up

When asked about his performance, Easley rattled off what he considers the success stories of his two terms: establishing a pre-kindergarten program, reducing class sizes in elementary school, establishing a high school program that links students directly to a community college degree, keeping the state budget balanced while increasing educational spending in the middle of an economic downturn in 2001 and 2002. He cites a loss of 250,000 manufacturing jobs and his efforts to recruit new, diversified industries to replace them. Easley also managed, after years of lobbying, to get the legislature to establish a lottery in North Carolina.

By his own admission, Easley achieved his successes incrementally. It is a pace that suits him, but one that has left critics and supporters alike urging him to do more.

"He appears to be very disengaged, except in times of disaster," said Phil Kirk, a former chief of staff for Republican Govs. Jim Martin and Jim Holshouser and a former chairman of the State Board of Education under former Gov. Jim Hunt and Easley, both Democrats.

"One-on-one, the governor's very engaging and very persuasive," Kirk said, "and I think a lot of people don't feel he's used the bully pulpit enough."

Consider this contrast: In the first two months of 2007, Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia spoke at as many public events as Easley did the entire year.

"[Easley] is certainly not typical in his number of public appearances, and it's because he prefers to lobby, to negotiate, to work over the phone," said Franklin Freeman, a top Easley aide who served as chief of staff to Hunt. "It's just how he has found himself to be most effective, and he is most effective at it."

Away from Raleigh

Easley often prefers to work from home, be it the Executive Mansion in Raleigh or his home in Southport. He spends many weekends in Southport, often leaving Raleigh on Thursday, coming back on Monday, or both.

Easley's schedules for 2007 show only 10 Fridays over the course of the year with even a single event or meeting, other than a morning conversation with two aides that is always printed on the schedule. Chunks of each day are blocked off as "Hold for Governor: appointments, phone calls," with none listed.

Mondays last year were not much different; all but a dozen of them show no meetings or even photo opportunities other than his 9:15 a.m. "staff meeting" with top aides Freeman and Susan Rabon.

John Merritt, a former top aide, said Easley does spend a lot of time in Southport. But that, he argues, does not mean Easley is not engaged.

"Do we get our 40 hours a week out of Mike Easley?" Merritt asked. "We get 60 or 80. Go down to the waterfront in Southport or out on a boat or out hunting, and you won't find him. He's working."

Easley bristles when asked about his schedule.

"I don't know how you come up with the presumption that if I'm not physically in [Raleigh] that things aren't happening or going on," he said. "Look at results."

Courting companies

Others are not convinced.

Regional economic development groups complained in a survey last year by State Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican, that Easley was reluctant to personally court companies considering moving to North Carolina. The criticism echoes complaints by some state officials that, more than once, Easley committed to appear at an economic development announcement, only to bail out an hour before.

Easley said that he doesn't like to meet with CEOs for the sake of it but that he has worked hard to recruit business to the state, with good results.

"We're doing as well as anybody in the country," said Dan Gerlach, a senior adviser to the governor.

Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat and Senate majority leader, acknowledged that some view Easley's style as "weird."

"It's individual to him," Rand said. "It's how he operates, but we all operate a different way."

Even when Easley does make an appearance, he often decides to go at the last minute. Last month, he gave a 20-minute speech to nearly 1,000 business leaders at the N.C. Chamber's annual meeting. Easley thanked the audience for supporting his education agenda and challenged them to keep going.

It was a rousing speech that drew a standing ovation. But Easley's presence that day wasn't a sure thing. He was not featured in the event's glossy color program because he didn't confirm his attendance in time.

His style fostered a deafening silence after a News & Observer series highlighted the mental health reform failures. More controversy followed when Easley and his staff gave different versions of who fired the spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

His staff helped raise questions about the administration's handling of public records. It became apparent that, whether she meant it or not, Easley's press secretary told other public information officers to delete e-mail to and from the Governor's Office daily.

A slow approach

Easley acknowledges he allowed the e-mail issue to fester. He took a slow approach, one he likened to his style as a prosecutor: He wanted a thorough investigation done before he took action. The e-mail issue outshone an announcement this month from the Governor's Office on new standards for health care across the state.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Concord Republican, echoed Easley's prosecutor comparison.

Hartsell cited Easley's decision this month to ask federal regulators to delay renewing a hydropower license for aluminum maker Alcoa. Critics have questioned the use of the Yadkin River to benefit a private company.

Though Stanly County has been fighting the license for some time, Easley's request came toward the end of the process. But Hartsell said it's hard to fault the governor for weighing in now.

"I do think he [Easley] is more contemplative," Hartsell said. "There have been some fairly significant, well-thought-out positions that have been taken. There have been many situations where there has been no position taken."

Martin Lancaster, the retiring president of the state Community College System, said Easley missed an opportunity to push for public school changes that would better prepare students for college. Lancaster sits on the Education Cabinet, a body created by the legislature and led by the governor. The group, which includes other influential education officials, has met only once a year and made little progress on public school curriculum.

"The governor has not made effective use of the Education Cabinet for that purpose," said Lancaster, a Democrat who will retire at the end of the month.

Deniability built in

Easley said his approach with his agency heads is to delegate but verify, which comes close to the mantra some current and former administration officials have ascribed to his style: complete control, complete deniability.

"I like for them to run their agencies," Easley said. "I want to know everything that's going on, too."

Deniability is impossible for a chief executive, Easley responded. When something goes wrong, it's his fault.

"Mike is, 'Let the staff handle it, let the system work,' " said Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat. "That's his style. And he's very popular, if you look at the polls."

Hoyle praised Easley as responsive and delightful to spend time with but hesitant to commit to a public event or even a meeting.

"I've called him before, said 'I need to come see you about this or that,' " Hoyle said. "And his favorite expression is, 'I need to know what's going on because I don't want to be hot-boxed.' ... He doesn't like to be blindsided or surprised, beat up on or jumped on."

Easley said he sees public appearances and speeches as a tool. If he needs to push an agenda, he will use the bully pulpit.

"I believe in using it sparingly, just like I do the veto, because the more you use it the less effective it is," Easley said. "I don't like it when politicians get out and say, 'Hey, look at me, give me a gold star. I just did my job. ... Don't act like it's the greatest deal in the world that you went and did what you promised what you were going to do when you ran. Just get it done.

"And that's worked for me. One, we got it done. Two, people have generally been pretty satisfied with the job that this administration has done."