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North Carolina's two major-party candidates for governor continued to spar over plans to open the coast to oil and natural gas drilling Tuesday night during the first live televised debate of the general election.
Democrat Beverly Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory faced off in a televised debate hosted by WTVD in Durham.
Perdue, the lieutenant governor, repeatedly said she's in favor of requiring oil companies who hold rights to drill in the Gulf of Mexico to do just that - or else lose their lease. But when it comes to allowing drilling in North Carolina, she wasn't as explicit.
Should Congress lift the ban on offshore drilling on the Atlantic coast, Perdue said she would wait until researchers study drilling prospects off the coast before supporting it.
"I believe that the reasonable, responsible thing for the governor of this state to do is not make any decision before you bring in a team of engineers and scientists, and you have someone tell you if the technology is there to do offshore drilling off the coast of North Carolina," Perdue said.
McCrory, the seven-term mayor of Charlotte, ripped Perdue for what he said amounted to a change in her position and said he's focused on what can be done off North Carolina's coast, not elsewhere. He said that allowing drilling would boost the state's economy and help the country become less dependent on foreign countries.
"I think that can revitalize and especially bring new jobs to the eastern part of the state," McCrory said.
During the debate, Perdue said the state must improve health care - specifically mental health care. Patients should be assigned coordinators to help guide them through the system, she said.
But McCrory said he would like to lift some state mandates when it comes to health insurance coverage.
After the debate, McCrory said North Carolinians should be able to pick and choose coverage from a menu of options, instead of being forced to pay for a host of services they don't want.
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By Walter Pavlic on 08/21 09:06 PM
I think that anyone who watched the debate and actually listened to what each candidate said, it was very clear who actually has plans to better NC. Bev had typical politicians’ answers for everything. She did not say what she has done, or what she plans to do. Just comments like “that is very important to me.” “I will address that very strongly” and so on. Just dancing around the questions. When Pat McCrory answered he have examples of what he has done, and how the past governor would change meetings with out telling anyone, after McCrory sent officers to Raleigh to testify on crime issues. Pat actually answered the questions, and gave examples of what he has done and what he wants to do. For those of us who were listening real well, you would have noticed Bev contradicted her self several times in that live debate. The death penalty and offshore drilling. You can’t keep changing your stance depending on who you’re talking to that week. And the most important thing yet, is why Bev is focusing on only negative ads against Pat McCrory, and not how she plans to better NC. Her every High School graduate gets FREE Community Collage plan is a JOKE! I guarantee you if you went to half of the high schools senior classes on any given day, you will see at least 1/3 to ½ of the class, sleeping, not there or not paying a bit of attention. So if they are going to get my hard earned money to go to school for free, how do you think that one is going to work out? I will tell you, because I am not proud of it but I was the same way in high school, and at Wake Tech Community college. If every graduate gets free tuition, what are mommy and daddy going to do? They are going to pay for an apartment for Jr. since they don’t have tuition, and most of them are going to party on our tax dollars! Most of them will drop out, or be kicked out because of not going to classes. Most of them will end up back home for a while, but all they are going to do is waste our money. I did not party on other tax dollars; I did it on my parents. I am not proud of it now, but I changed as I got older. I own my own business now and work my butt off because I learned a trade and stuck with it. Pat McCrory wants to put more programs in schools for students to learn real life trades as well as these degrees everyone is getting now. Most of college students now days are in more debt they can stand, because of the student loans and slow economy. If you learn a trade you most likely can find a job quicker. Most everyone I know who went to collage, is not at a job that has anything to do with there degree, are you? We need someone like Pat, with a reality check; we need to offer students chances to work for free college credit. Those students who are willing to put forth the effort and earn my tax dollars to go to school with, well I don’t have a problem with that. But please don’t think that most students aren’t going to take advantage of a free ride and abuse it! Make them earn it! That is the problem with the democratic views; they want to give too much government assistance to those who are not willing to work for it. They think they are owed it. I really hope people start listing to what Pat and Bev are really saying, and why wont Bev commit to more public debates! I think it is because she knows she looks worse every time she debates Pat McCrory, who actually has a plan and wants to better NC. And not just enjoy being a politician and giving general statements that dance around the subject, and flip flop on her stance depending on her audience.
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