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Gov. Bev Perdue outlined what she described as the blueprint for her next three years in office Tuesday night during a speech to the Greensboro Partnership here in the Gate City.

The bullet points are these:

• Jobs: she wants more of them.
• Education: she wants to raise the graduation rate and make sure kids are better prepared.
• Government: less corruption please.

“These three things are what you’re going to hear me talking about all over the state for the next three years,” Perdue told her audience.

You can click here for my newspaper story covering the speech.

Perdue objected last month when a reporter suggested her plans and goals for her term had been derailed by the bad economy. But Tuesday night's speech very much felt like a reboot of the Perdue term, a recasting of herself from the governor who was going to give every kid a free college education to the one that'll try to make sure there's a job for the kids who do manage to graduate.

I’ve sliced and diced some audio, dispensing with the pleasantries and lead-up to the meat of her speech.

In this first segment, Perdue gives the broad outline of what she has in mind:

In the second audio segment, Perdue talks about her plans to spark the economy. She tells the audience she wants the General Assembly to create a new tax credit for small businesses. And Perdue said she wants to expand the “Biz Boost” program statewide. Currently, Biz Boost is a pilot program in Charlotte that provides experts, help finding financing and even help paying salaries to small businesses.

“The number one priority for this state and for all of our people is to keep jobs and to grow jobs in North Carolina,” Perdue said. “I am and will continue to be known as the ‘jobs governor,’ not the education governor, although it breaks my heart.”

Perdue’s predecessors, particular Gov. Jim Hunt and Mike Easley, did well politically by claiming the mantel of “education governor.” But the Great Recession and its double-digit unemployment rates have put education issues in a second-fiddle position for the first time in a long time.

Perdue will speak more about education at an event today in Kannapolis. From my story:

The governor put a name to her signature education program — Career and College: Ready, Set, Go — but delayed sharing specifics until a joint session of North Carolina’s Educational Governing Boards today in Kannapolis.

She said the effort would focus on measuring the progress of at-risk children and keeping students in schools, pledging to raise the graduation rate by 10 points in the next three years.

But speaking about education, Perdue came back to the economy and jobs.

“I believe that the business community, you all, need to help North Carolina define what it is that you really want a high school graduate to know ... or what it is you think a community college or college graduate needs in terms of a skill set to worth,” Perdue said.

Finally, Perdue talked about doing away with corruption and waste in government.

“The third area of this strategy … is setting government straight. Now I don’t have to sweet talk it or cover over it. You know what I mean when I talk about needing to change the way the state government does business,” Perdue said. “I’m not going to give you any examples and I’m not going to call any names because I was brought up not to talk at all if you couldn’t talk nice. There are some things going on that are simply unacceptable in North Carolina. We’re fed up with the dishonesty, we’re angry about the back-room dealing, and we’re tired, really-really tired, of business as usual.”