Kay Hagan is running a Google Ad.

Google searches for terms like "Elizabeth Dole" bring up this ad: 

Kay Hagan for US Senate
Standing up to special interests
for North Carolina in Washington DC
kayhagan.com
North Carolina

Pat Smathers says Google AdWords are good for the grassroots.

The candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor first started running ads on Google searches on Sept. 18 to promote a fundraiser featuring bluegrass player David Holt.

That promotion used Holt's name, as well as a dozen more esoteric search terms like "nc mountain music charlotte" to draw people to Smathers' Web site, said political coordinator Hanna Raskin.

She said the targeted ads were very successful. Though only a few thousand people saw the ads, almost 10 percent clicked through to the site to buy tickets, Raskin said.

Since September, the ads for other lieutenant governor candidates have been seen 1.9 million times, but the number clicking on the ads is in the hundreds, she said. Searches for "Hampton Dellinger" have gotten the most clicks.

The campaign has cost $98 in total. 

The N.C. Democratic Party is also buying Google Ads.

A Dome regular points out that the state party is buying ads under searches for "Les Merritt"  and "Leslie Merritt" that point to its own site against the Republican state auditor.

It reads: "Mr. Leslie Merritt The Fox is in the Hen House: Merritt Has Conflicts of Interest."

Beverly Perdue is buying Google Ads too.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate started placing ads on Google searches sometime after Dome first wrote about rival Richard Moore's ad buys last month.

Perdue's ads show up when you search "Beverly Perdue" or "Bev Perdue." They read: "Bev Perdue for Governor Help Elect Bev for Governor of North Carolina."

Moore also has an ad for an anti-Perdue Web Site show up on those searches. It reads: "Fact Check Perdue Beverly Perdue Her Words vs. Her Record."

Turnabout is fair play, though. Perdue also has an ad for an anti-Moore blog, Know Moore, under searches for "Richard Moore."

It reads: "Know Moore Find out about the real Richard Moore."

State Treasurer Richard Moore wants you to Google him.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate is running Google AdWords on search terms like "north carolina governor" and "climate change north carolina."

The California-based search engine firm posts a short link headlined "Richard Moore 4 Governor," in the results of searches for those terms, then charges the campaign each time it's clicked.

He's not alone. Lieutenant governor candidate Pat Smathers has posted Google AdWords on searches for the names of his primary rivals, headlined "Looking for the next LG?"

The state Democratic Party also has run them.

"We spent about $17 on the ads six months ago," said party spokeswoman Kerra Bolton.