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Pat McCrory will officially kick off his campaign for governor Jan. 31 in Greensboro, according to Jim Morrill, a reporter for the Charlotte Observer and Raleigh N+O. From Morrill's campaign tracker blog:

"Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory finally plans to kick off his gubernatorial campaign Jan. 31 in Greensboro, according to a campaign aide.

[snip]

"According to the aide, McCrory is expected to hold a late afternoon kickoff at Greensboro's Oriental Shrine Club."

Links to that report here and here.

Oddly enough, when I called McCrory campaign, I didn't get a confirmation. McCrory himself would only defer to campaign staff, saying he wasn't sure what details were or weren't confirmed yet.

Based on my conversations, I'm pretty convinced that the McClatchy report of Jan. 31 is the right date. I haven't verified the other details yet. I'm not sure why the campaign is so circumspect about this -- other than they just weren't ready to put something out. It's not like McCrory's bid for governor is really not a secret.

The former Charlotte mayor has raised $2.5 million for the run, has basically been on the campaign stump for much of the past year and there's really no other credible Republican who has announced a challenge at this point. State Democrats have taken McCrory seriously enough that they're dedicating staff time and resources to criticizing him.

McCrory grew up in Jamestown, so the Greensboro vicinity makes sense for a campaign launch. In 2008, he used his small town roots to balance out any unease voters might have had with the fact that he had been the mayor of North Carolina's largest city.