Perdue swears off negative ads

Beverly Perdue will not run any more negative ads in the primary.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate pulled TV ads attacking rival Richard Moore off the air and off of YouTube and took down a negative Web site aimed at Moore early this morning.

In their place, she is running a new statewide ad that promises to change the tone of the race.

"In my mind, regardless of who started it, voters across the state really don't like it," she said. 

At a press conference at Democratic Party headquarters, Perdue said that she changed her mind after being approached by voters, her husband and her son, Emmett and Garrett. She said that some of her political consultants disagreed with the decision.

"Saul Schorr is probably somewhere crying," she said, jokingly, of her media consultant. "He had to throw away the knifes and the guns, and it's not a happy day for him."

Perdue reserved the right to run ads responding to claims she deems inaccurate or unfair in Moore's ads and has left similar fact-checks on her Web site. She said that she has not made a decision about the general election.

"Ask me that question on the night of May 6," she said.