Pat McCrory says offshore drilling could create jobs.

Speaking at the Greenville Convention Center Monday, the Republican gubernatorial candidate said drilling for oil and natural gas could help the economy Down East, The Daily Reflector reports.

"The east has a higher unemployment rate and lower per capita income than the rest of the state," McCrory said. "But it does not have to be that way. With safe, environmentally sound drilling in the deep sea off our coast, we can create new high paying jobs, jobs that the people of our poor counties can fill."

McCrory also said the product could be piped to "inland eastern counties" for processing.

During a meeting with reporters in Raleigh, McCrory also mentioned the jobs angle, but the discussion veered onto other topics, so it's interesting to note the Greenville paper's take.

More information on the history of the Manteo Project is here.

Previously: Pipelines safer than tankers.

Don't come to Raleigh on Thursday if you want to see the state legislature in action.

The House and Senate are convening in Greensboro at 11 a.m. to honor the city's bicentennial. The session will be held in N.C. A&T University's Harrison Auditorium.

The legislative calendar has not been released for Thursday, but typically such visits are intended to commemorate the occasion and little more.

In recent years lawmakers have held similar sessions in Edenton, Bath and Greenville.

Hillary Clinton touted her gas tax holiday proposal during a speech today at Pitt Community College in Greensville. (Staff video by Travis Long)

GREENVILLE — Hillary Clinton began her final push in the Tar Heel state in Greenville this morning, carrying veiled criticism of her Democratic opponent and telling about 500 people that she has the experience for the White House.

"You don't hire a president to make speeches," Clinton said. "You hire a president to solve problems."

She gave her usual stump speech some last-day-of-campaigning fire, her voice hoarse but her audience full of enthusiastic supporters who shouted and applauded with just about every line, Barb Barrett reports.

She talked of how she would offer the same health care that members of Congress receive to every citizen in the country. She talked of herself as a commander-in-chief, saying she would end the war in Iraq and take care of vetersans.

And she not-so-subtly reminded voters that she's the candidate who has spent time in the White House, talking of her work with former President Bill Clinton and of how he left office with a budget surplus.

More after the jump.

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Gov. Mike Easley took a whack at Barack Obama this morning as he introduced Hillary Clinton to about 500 people at Pitt Community College in Greenville.

Obama has been fighting criticism that doesn’t have the experience to be president, and Easley piled on, Barb Barett reports.

Introducing Clinton, the governor described her as "someone who would not dare to ask you to make her president of the United States until she is ready for the job."

Barack Obama will visit East Carolina University Thursday.

The Democratic presidential candidate will meet with voters at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum in Greenville.

The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required but an RSVP is strongly encouraged through the Obama campaign's Web site.

Admission is based on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited parking is available.

Doors open at 4 p.m. 

A second town hall meeting Thursday will be held in the Triangle. Details are not yet available on that event. 

Barack Obama will be in the Triangle Thursday.

The Democratic presidential candidate will hold a town hall meeting on the economy in the Triangle followed by an event in Greenville that night.

Tickets for the Greenville event will be distributed across the region, from Wilmington to Elizabeth City.

Both events — and a series of local meetings around the state on Tuesday — are tied to Obama's recent re-release of his economic plan. 

Further details were not available today. 

Beverly Perdue is hitting the campaign trail.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate will meet with supporters to back-to-back gatherings in Greenville, Lumberton and Raleigh Saturday afternoon.

Two of the events will take place at supporters' homes; the third, at a tea room.

"Can you feel the elecricity in the air?" notes a press release on the events. "Spring is here and North Carolinians are on the verge of experiencing the most exciting primary election in decades."

Bill Clinton is coming back.

The former president will stump for his wife's presidential campaign in North Carolina on Friday, holding "Solutions for America" events in Roanoke Rapids and Rocky Mount.

The latter event will be at 9 p.m. at N.C. Wesleyan College.

On Saturday, he'll travel to Greenville, Wilson, Goldsboro, Kinston, New Bern and Jacksonville.

The Wilson event will be at 11:30 a.m. at Barton College. 

Further details on the trip are not yet available. 

All events are free and open to the public. 

Pat McCrory wants more jails for youths.

At a campaign stop in Greenville, the Republican gubernatorial candidate said he would pursue "gang" legislation to give the state Department of Correction and the court system more funding, the Daily Reflector reports:

McCrory wants more space to incarcerate juvenile offenders so they can learn accountability for their actions. He points to the Charlotte area, where there are only 30 beds for juvenile incarceration and none of those are for girls.