I watched the first thirty minutes of the Perdue vs. McCrory debate. The “Thriller from Manila” it was not. About the time I was ready to doze off, McCrory, self-righteously praising himself, said, ‘I have never run a negative ad.’ That woke me up. I hate it when a candidate does that. Doesn’t McCrory believe in anything enough to fight for it? Jesse Helms ran negative ads. So did Hunt, Barack Obama, and John McCain.

Next, David Crabtree (if you were just looking at the debate and asked yourself, ‘Who on that stage looks like he could be governor?’ David would have won) asked Perdue how, after saying during the primary that negative ads were a bacillus poisoning North Carolina, she could justify running them now.

Perdue lifted her chin, sniffed, and looked at David like he was a worm. ‘During the primary I made it absolutely, perfectly, crystal clear I was only referring to vicious, personal, character attacks.’

What does she think? That everybody’s memory has been erased since May? Is there a Democrat out there who wants to argue – with a straight face – that wasn’t a bald-faced lie?

Then boom, wham, the floor lurched and David played an ad slashing Perdue that the Republican Governors Association is running and asked Mr. “I never run negative ads” McCrory, ‘What about this third-party group, Pat? Why don’t you just pick up the phone in the morning and call and tell them to stop?’

McCrory intoned somberly: ‘I am forbidden by law to talk to them.’

Which was another bald-faced lie. (If anyone out there who supports McCrory wants to disagree, come on. I have been sued near about to the Supreme Court for running independent ads – it’s one issue I’m lawyered up on.)

In five minutes McCrory had blown his foot off, Perdue had redeemed him, then McCrory had shot himself in the other foot. Then Perdue delivered the piece de resistance and saved him again. No, I take it back, Pam Saulsby saved him. She asked Perdue: ‘You say you don’t support the status quo in Raleigh; tell me what you’d do differently from Governor Easley.’

‘Dumpling’ looked at the camera like a deer caught in headlights. Stammered. ‘I’d be more hands-on.’

‘Well, give me one example.’

Bev’s smile turned sick. ‘You know, er, I’m a different kind of leader…’

‘Well, give me one example.’

Perdue couldn’t do it. She just sat there, blinking. Like she’d never heard of an issue. Like the election is some sort of high school popularity contest.

How on earth did this woman ever beat Richard Moore?

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