A tale of two headlines

It is always interesting how very different messages can be taken away from the same data.

This morning's Under the Dome item on our Republican gubernatorial poll says 'Poll good news for Perdue, McCrory.'

News 14 Carolina's headline for a story on the same poll is 'McCrory not favored in Gov. race.'

My take? I was surprised McCrory didn't finish first. The Republican field is pretty weak. When you have a three term state senator, a former judge, and someone who's never held office before running it seems like the mayor of Charlotte should be leading the way even without a campaign under way.

McCrory's performance is stunningly poor outside the Charlotte tv market though. He says his reason for considering a run is that Charlotte gets the shaft- that's fine but it's not a message likely to boost his standing in all the regions of the state where he's pulling 3 or 4 percent support.

The primary is now less than five months away. If McCrory really wants to get into this thing I don't think he has another month to make a decision, especially with Fred Smith's standing getting stronger and stronger.

For McCrory to be successful he needs to announce in the next couple weeks and come up with a compelling message quick.

I think he'll take his sweet time and decide not to run. He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would enjoy campaigning in Duplin County, and I think he's smart enough to realize he would have to do that kind of thing to be successful statewide.