Politics is nothing if not full of surprises.

First, the Governor’s office said Dempsey Benton fired Debbie Crane. For incompetence. Then Dempsey said he didn’t. And she wasn’t.

That, of course, lead the newspaper reporters straight back to the Governor’s door, Who fired Debbie Crane?

The governor’s chief-of-staff, Franklin Freeman, said the Governor had her fired.

But, it turns out that wasn’t so either. Last week a group of editors asked the Governor something like, Why did you fire Crane?

The Governor said, “It wasn’t me.”

‘Then who,’ the editors asked, ‘was it?’

‘Franklin Freeman.’

And Freeman, who’s clearly a man who knows better than to argue with the boss, promptly said the whole thing was his idea all along.

For a long time some people have found the Governor’s modus operandi puzzling. And the Crane affair hasn’t helped. When it comes to Mrs. Crane it seems there are three Mike Easleys. Each with a different answer.

It’s me. It’s Dempsey. It’s Franklin.

But when it comes to dueling personalities, last week, the governor couldn’t hold a candle to the Lt. Governor Perdue.

Bev Perdue had a meltdown.

Bev (#1) – who’s been running for governor a year – hasn’t been the least bit shy about attacking Richard Moore with negative ads.

But, suddenly last Thursday, in the blink of an eye, Bev (#1) vanished and Bev (#2) popped up on the TV screen saying she’s never, ever, going to run a negative ad and added, ‘It’s best for me and best for North Carolina.’

Gary diagnosed the consequences of Mrs. Perdue’s split personality in The News and Observer. “In the meantime,” he said, “Moore’s just going to keep pummeling her.”

It didn’t take Moore long to turn Gary into a prophet.

Moore’s campaign promptly said, “We believe Lt. Gov. Perdue’s history of pushing tuition increases and cutting taxes for the wealthy are very relevant to the debate over who will be the next governor.”

So, it turned out, Mrs. Perdue announcing she’s pulling her negative ads made about as much sense as England giving Hitler Czechoslovakia – and hoping he’d stop.

Which lead one wag to say Lt. Governor Bev Perdue just earned herself a star on the politicians’ equivalent of the Hollywood walk of fame.

For starting the Mahatma Gandhi school of political theory.

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