MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
RALEIGH, N.C. — Beverly Perdue and Pat McCrory, the winners of the Democratic and Republican primaries for governor, are very good at winning elections.

Perdue, a Democrat has won all nine of her general-election races, two for lieutenant governor and the rest for state legislator.

McCrory, a Republican, also has won all of his elections in 14 years as the mayor of Charlotte and six years as a member of the Charlotte City Council.

Six months from now, one of their winning streaks will end.

On Tuesday, Perdue and McCrory emerged from tough primaries to become their parties’ nominees. They now go head-to-head in a battle to succeed Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat. “I firmly believe this is an interview for the top job in North Carolina,” McCrory said.

One of their first orders of business is to unite their parties behind them after heavily contested primary campaigns.

The Republicans made a forceful show of unity Wednesday at a press conference in which two of McCrory’s primary opponents, as well as former Republican Gov. Jim Holshouser, endorsed him.

“This is Pat McCrory’s day,” said state Sen. Fred Smith, McCrory’s main primary challenger. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that he’s the next governor.”

In contrast, Perdue’s primary opponent, State Treasurer Richard Moore, was nowhere to be found. He did not attend a press conference at which Easley endorsed Perdue. Moore’s aides said that he was not granting interviews, and his campaign manager did return repeated phone messages. Moore sent out an e-mail to supporters thanking them, but he did not mention Perdue.

Unlike the GOP primary, which was mostly civil, the Democratic primary was bruising, with Moore relentlessly attacking Perdue as untrustworthy.

Late Tuesday night, after her victory rally, Perdue said she is confident that the Democratic Party will unite around her.
“It’s like children in the family fighting each other,” she said. “We are members of the same family, and at end of the day, when my two sons hate each other in the kitchen, when they go out into public they really are good with each other and stand up for the family.”

Perdue’s decisive margin of victory in the primary makes it easier to heal intraparty rifts than if she had won by a razor-thin margin, said Andrew Taylor, a political scientist at N.C. State University.

If Moore continues his silence, however, it could damage the party.

“That’s something that, if it went on for a while, could be problematic,” Taylor said. “But my sense is that it won’t go on for a long time.”

Perdue and McCrory have strikingly different resumes.

They come from different parts of the state (Perdue is from New Bern; McCrory grew up in Jamestown), they have different types of government experience, and they have sharply divergent philosophies about how things should run in Raleigh.

Perdue has proposed expanding educational programs and has promised universal health care for children. She pitches herself as a fighter who will use the tools of government to improve the lives of middle-class residents.

“My message of building up families and building up North Carolina is very important to me,” she said.

McCrory says he believes that state government has been ineffective and is too big, and he talks often about the need for private-sector solutions.

That distinction will help frame the race, Taylor said.

“It will be a question of the size of government and what you want state government to do for you,” he said.

McCrory began drawing contrasts with Perdue on Wednesday, citing her proposal to make community college free.

“I’m not going to promise free college tuition for all two years of community college, because nothing is free,” McCrory said.