The Easley/Perdue Administration?

I'm a little late on this but I was amused last week to see that Pat McCrory is going to try to tag Bev Perdue to Mike Easley with references to the 'Easley/Perdue administration.'

If I was the Perdue campaign, I'd say thanks.

For the most part Democrats are going to vote for the Democratic candidate for Governor and Republicans are going to vote for the Republican candidate for Governor. But one of the things that made Easley such an electoral success was receiving a good deal of crossover support from folks voting Republican on most of the rest of their ballot, particularly in eastern North Carolina. About the most conservative person I've ever known voted for Easley in 2004.

There's no doubt that Easley has had some missteps lately, with issues related to mental health and state emails getting him a lot of flack in the press. But I don't think those are issues that the folks who have crossed over to support Easley are losing a lot of sleep over. They still like Easley. And although they probably don't agree with Easley on the illegal immigration issue it's irrelevant a) because Easley has no direct control over it and isn't getting his way and b) Perdue has a different position on the issue.

Last week Jack Hawke said the McCrory campaign needed to shore up its support in eastern North Carolina. Tying Bev Perdue to Mike Easley probably isn't the best way to do it.