Stop me if you've heard this one

Gov. Beverly Perdue said it was "no joke."

At this point, it couldn't be.

In recent weeks, Perdue has frequently used a line about how she would drive to South Carolina to get the stimulus money Republican Gov. Mark Sanford said he didn't want.

Like a Catskills comedian working a room for the 100th time, Perdue used the line again during tonight's State of the State speech.

"It was no joke when I said if South Carolina's governor didn't want his federal recovery funds, as bad a driver as I am, I would drive a pickup truck down and I would get his share of the money," she said.

She also again offered to show residents of the Palmetto State how their neighbors to the north handle "tough times."