Will Democratic in-fighting hand the Governor's Mansion to the GOP?
Some Democrats are concerned about the precedent set by the only two Republican governors elected in the 20th century in North Carolina: Jim Holshouser and Jim Martin.
Both won elections after brutal Democratic primaries. (Holshouser in 1972 over Skipper Bowles, who fought Pat Taylor in a tough primary; Martin in 1984 over Rufus Edmisten, who fought Eddie Knox in a crowded Democratic primary.)
With Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore already getting down and dirty, some Democrats fear and some Republicans hope that history will repeat itself.
Not so fast, says Ferrell Guillory, a former political reporter who now heads the program on public life at UNC-Chapel Hill.
More after the jump.
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Guillory, who covered both the 1972 and 1984 races, says they were heavily influenced by the national wins by presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
He's also not convinced that a tough campaign is necessarily a bad thing.
"Voters will tell you that they get tired of candidates being negative or going after each other, fussing and feuding all the time," he said. "But they really do want a choice, and it takes some fussing and feuding to give them a choice."
Guillory said it also matters what happens after the primary, pointing out that Gov. Mike Easley fought a tough battle against Harvey Gantt for the Democratic senatorial nomination in 1990, but Easley quickly endorsed Gantt after the win.
Easley went on to serve as state attorney general and governor for two terms each, Guillory notes.
"It seems to me as we look ahead we can expect a fairly bruising campaign in both parties," he said. "The question is what happens afterward."
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