GOP group to launch ads against Perdue

A group linked to the Republican Governors Association plans to launch a series of spots next week attacking Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic candidate for governor. The ads cost close to $3.5 million.

Although the ads haven't been released yet, they're already stirring up political tension. Perdue's campaign fired a pre-emptive strike Friday, criticizing the outside group's support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory.

"Pat McCrory has said he wants to change the political culture, and he's bringing in and allowing George Bush and his special interests to come into North Carolina with open arms," Perdue spokesman Tim Crowley said.

McCrory's campaign and Republican consultant Carter Wrenn called Perdue's protests hypocritical.

"She's been doing the same thing. She's got the Democratic groups in Washington spending a couple million dollars to help her, and then McCrory does it and she goes out and has a hair-pulling fit and says it's terrible," Wrenn said.

The Alliance for North Carolina, a group funded by the Democratic Governors Association and the political-action committee of a teachers union, has run ads against McCrory for several weeks.

"Bev, again, does not like the outside ads coming in, but again, they're here and we would like to make sure they're fact-based, issue-based," Crowley said.

Both candidates said they want to clear the air of negative ads. McCrory challenged Perdue to sit down and discuss the truth behind the ads, while Perdue proposed a state trust that would fund only positive campaigns.