Patrick Ballantine attacked Andy Griffith's politics in the 2004 election.
The Republican gubernatorial candidate criticized Griffith after the actor appeared in a second television ad for Gov. Mike Easley, his Democratic opponent.
According to an Oct. 31, 2004, article in the Charlotte Observer, went on the attack against Griffith at an event at a barbecue restaurant in Kinston:
"Andy Griffith is a liberal actor who played a conservative sheriff on TV," Ballantine said, adding that Griffith's TV alter ego, Sheriff Andy Taylor, would vote Republican.
Otis the town drunk, he said, would vote for Easley.
Ballantine lost the race to Easley.
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