Beverly Perdue struck back at Richard Moore's recent ad at the Young Democrats convention.
Speaking before a lunchtime audience at the convention in Research Triangle Park, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said she first heard her rival's ad attacking her for voting for tuition increases while preparing a ham at her home in New Bern the Thursday before Easter.
"There I was putting the ham in the oven about 11:15 at night, and I realized somebody on television was talking real trash about somebody else," she said. "I thought I wonder who it is they're talking about, and I turned up the sound and lo ad behold it was me."
Perdue called the ad the "first negative campaign" of the governor's race, saying it was not the full story. She also said that Moore, who was at the convention earlier in the morning, had repeated his claims about her voting record.
"I will tell you straight up," she told the crowd of several hundred college students and twentysomethings. "I was in the General Assembly for 14 years, and sure there were times when I voted for tuition hikes. But there were also hikes that (were) accompanied with financial assistance for kids across the state."
She also said that Moore voted for the same tuition hikes when he was in the General Assembly.
Earlier: Fact-check of Perdue's response to Moore's ad.
