Beverly Perdue argued that Pat McCrory would widen the urban-rural divide.

At the 2008 Rural Partners Forum at the North Raleigh Hilton this afternoon, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate targeted the Charlotte mayor over his past statements on rural and urban issues.

She cited a 2000 interview with McCrory by the Durham Herald-Sun in which he argued that state policy's on paving roads were encouraging sprawl.

"I want paved roads in my community — I don't know about you," Perdue said.

She also cited an episode of "Agenda Charlotte," a cable TV talk show that McCrory used to host, in which he said that rural interests had joined together to get state funding.

"I don't know about you, but I think that kind of divide-and-conquer mentality has no place in North Carolina," she said.

"If I'm elected governor, I intend to be governor of all of North Carolina," she said.

McCrory is slated to speak to the forum on Friday.

Update: "The Lt. Governor is proving that a negative campaign about nothing will lose to a positive campaign about issues every time," said McCrory spokesman Richard Hudson. 

The Republican Party’s 2008 bus tour pulled into Raleigh this morning with the theme of change — both in Raleigh and in Washington.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the GOP candidate for governor, promised to end "a culture of corruption in which sadly 10 people have gone to jail," Rob Christensen reports.

After 16 years of Democratic rule in Raleigh, McCrory said he would bring a new transparency to state government and would be more willing to meet with the public.

He told about 75 people at the Velvet Cloak Inn that he would be a governor who will not hide "behind the fence of the governor's mansion."

That was an apparent reference to Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, who has made fewer public appearances than his predecessors.

Traveling with McCrory, was former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, former Arkansas Congressman and former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration Asa Hutchinson, and retired Air Force Colonel Quincy Collins, who was a fellow prisoner of war in Vietnam with GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

Hutchinson said that McCain would keep the country on "the offensive" against global terrorism.

"Senator McCain understands the world is still a dangerous place," Hutchinson added.

The bus tour began in Wilmington and Faytteville on Monday, and was to continue on to High Point and Charlotte later in the day. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was on the bus on Monday.

Raleigh is the most political city in the country.

That's according to Men's Health magazine, which ranked the top ten most political cities in a recent issue.

Raleigh topped Montgomery, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Kansas City, Mo. for the top spot. Sixth place went to Greensboro, N.C.

The rankings were based on percentages of active registered voters, ballots counted, percentage of income donated in the current presidential election, campaign spending, votes cast in the 2008 primary and votes cast in recent elections for governor and Senate.

The rankings did not take into account the number of rock-hard abs among Raleigh men. 

Hat Tip: John Murawski 

Barack Obama linked John McCain to the troubled economy.

At a campaign stop in Raleigh Tuesday night, the Democratic presidential candidate argued that the middle class is struggling, that housing foreclosures are the highest since the Great Depression and that gas prices are too high.

"Raise your hands," Obama said. "How many people think you are better off than you were eight years ago?"

There was a chorus of boos from the 2,500 people at the Exposition Center at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

The visit came as Obama is expected to announce his vice presidential choice. After returning from a vacation, he has sharpened his message, seeking to cast doubt on McCain's reputation as a maverick and linking the Republican to lobbyists and oil companies.

It was Obama's second post-primary stop in North Carolina. McCain has not yet visited since the May 6 primary. (N&O) 

Tropical Storm Fay has forced Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to scrub an unannounced trip through Eastern North Carolina this morning.

Obama had planned to fly from Orlando, Fla., to Kinston to hold a campaign event, Rob Christensen reports. He then would take a bus across Eastern North Carolina and make several unannounced stops on way to his rally in Raleigh tonight at the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

But the near-hurricane in Florida caused him to cancel the eastern swing. He is still scheduled to appear tonight in Raleigh.

Although the Eastern swing had not been announced, a group of Raleigh reporters were picked up in vans at the Fairgrounds Tuesday morning, and the vans made it as far as Wilson County.

The vans stopped in Sims and sat in the parking lot of Sam's Country Grill before the trip was canceled and the news media was returned to Raleigh.

Kay Hagan also won't be at the Barack Obama event.

The Democratic Senate candidate will be attending a Charlotte East Community Partners candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. — the same time that Obama will give a speech on the economy in Raleigh.

Hagan has made similar arguments to Obama on key issues, but she has not tied herself as directly to him as gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue did in the primary.

She did not make his first post-primary event in North Carolina.

However, her staff has said that they support their party's presidential candidate and blamed scheduling conflicts for her absences.

Update: Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that Hagan was at the Charlotte event that Obama canceled due to plane trouble. 

Previously: Perdue also missing speech due to debate.

Looking for tickets to Barack Obama's speech Tuesday?

You can get them at the Raleigh headquarters at 130 East Morgan St. or at the Cary headquarters at 215 East Chatham.

For more information, you can also call 919-821-4875.

An earlier press release from the Obama campaign included an incorrect phone number. 

CNN is opening a Triangle bureau.

The Atlanta-based news channel announced Tuesday that it will assign journalists to 10 cities across the United States, doubling the number of domestic cities where it has bureaus.

The one-man bureaus will use borrowed space from local news organizations to file reports for TV and the Internet, according to the New York Times.

Reporters are also going to Seattle, Las Vegas, Orlando, among other cities. 

It is not clear when the bureau will open, but a similar "one-man band" approach by MSNBC during the primary led to increased coverage of North Carolina's politics. 

Can't make it to Denver?

You can send a video instead. The Democratic National Convention will hold a virtual "town hall" with video submissions from around the country.

Politicians and Democratic experts will answer questions posed in the videos.

To get your question taped, go to Moore Square in Raleigh on the corner of Martin and South Blount streets today from 4 to 8 p.m.

Staffers from the Barack Obama campaign will be on hand. 

Bob Dole will speak in High Point and Raleigh today.

The former Senate majority leader and husband of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole will appear with Sen. Richard Burr and N.C. Republican Party chairwoman Linda Daves.

The occasion is the opening of two headquarters for the John McCain presidential campaign. 

The High Point event will be held at 12:30 p.m. at 3800 Tinsley Road. The Raleigh event will be held at 3 p.m. at 1506 Hillsborough St. in the state Republican Party headquarters.

The McCain campaign is also opening an office in Winston-Salem today. Democratic rival Barack Obama, meantime, has 14 offices open already. 

Dole, who ran for president himself in 1996, is increasingly visible in North Carolina lately, appearing at a Raleigh anti-tax rally in late June.