DURHAM, N.C. — The Republican and Democratic candidates for governor didn't even make it halfway through their first televised debate Tuesday before they verbally dueled over who wants to drill for oil off North Carolina's coast.
"It'll create jobs. In the long term it'll lower the price of gas and natural gas," said Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee and an unabashed proponent of building oil platforms off the North Carolina coast.
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, the Democratic nominee, said she supports drilling off the coast — of other states, where oil companies already have drilling rights. Perdue said she wouldn't make a decision about drilling in North Carolina's ocean waters until hearing from a team of scientists and engineers.
"I want to be responsible and know for sure that if we drill off the coast of North Carolina we can do it safely," Perdue said.
The issue has been banging around the governor's race because Perdue shifted positions last week.
Read the full story at charlotteobserver.com.