Former presidential candidate the Rev. Al Sharpton will be in Raleigh this evening to talk the Alliance of North Carolina Black Elected Officials.

Gov. Beverly Perdue told the officials that she didn't want them to compare her speaking skills with those of Shartpon, Rob Christensen reports.

"I know you are going to compare me to Al Sharpton," Perdue said. "I'm not Al Sharpton. I want you to know that."

Remember the old road side signs that read "Your Tax Dollars at Work"?

Well, North Carolina will soon be posting signs at projects financed by the federal stimulus packaged called "Jobs Now," Rob Christensen reports.

"With every construction project that is beginning in North Carolina with the federal money that we will have a sign up that says "Jobs Now," Gov. Beverly Perdue told a meeting of black elected officials this morning in Raleigh.

"That is going to be the logo in North Carolina. We want peple to know that we are putting folks back to work," she said.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said this morning she saw "a glimmer of hope" with the economy, with the stock market showing some signs of life and with signs that North Carolina may be reaching the bottom with unemployment.

Perdue said that the new figures to be released this morning show unemployment in March had only risen one-tenth of one percent, Rob Christensen reports.

But the governor said there was still heavy pain all across the state from people of all walks of life who have lost their job.

"The question I hear over and over is the next pay check going to be a pink slip?" Perdue told about 50 people at a meeting of the Alliance of North Carolina Black Elected Officials at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel.

More after the jump.

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The state chapter of the NAACP today demanded the removal of a recent ad by the N.C. Republican Party.

The chapter was referring to the ad that attacks Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue, and uses video of Barack Obama's former minister, Jeremiah Wright, to criticize their endorsement of Obama, reports Titan Barksdale.

Rev. William Barber II, president of the state's chapter, said the ad injects racist politics into the election process, and is meant to be divisive. He defended Wright, saying the video used in the ad takes Wright's comments during a sermon out of context.

"This ad is a snippet of a very thoughtful and profound sermon," Barber said. "Rev. Wright's messages are not much different from the messages being preached in many North Carolina churches — black and white."

Barber said the NAACP has sent a letter to Republican chairwoman Linda Daves requesting an explanation of the ad's intent.

Members of the Alliance of N.C. Black Elected Officials, a group of black leaders across the state, also attended the news conference.