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State Treasurer Richard Moore lost one tough battle earlier this year. Now, with only a few weeks left in office, he's launched another.

There's more at stake this time.

Moore was soundly beaten by Bev Perdue after a bruising campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Rather than run for re-election to his treasury post, Moore gambled on a bid for higher office but probably never had a chance to upset Perdue, a two-term lieutenant governor.

That challenge might have been easy, however, compared to his bid to stave off the merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia banks, which he calls "highway robbery."

Moore has a stake in the game. As of Oct. 31, the state employees pension fund owned about 3.2 million shares of Wachovia stock worth more than $20 million, according to Sara Lang, the Treasury Department's deputy chief of staff for communications and policy. The treasurer is responsible for getting maximum value for the fund's investments, and a takeover by Wells Fargo is a bad deal, Moore said last week. He urged North Carolina's state and federal elected officials to help him protect Wachovia's independence.

"He's chasing a horse that's already out of the barn," U.S. Rep. Mel Watt of Charlotte said Friday. Watt is a senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.

The merger is so sure, Watt noted, that Wells Fargo announced a new leadership structure without waiting for Wachovia stockholders to approve the deal.

Moore insists the fight can be won. The state pension fund's shares will vote against the merger, and he urges other stockholders to say no.

He offered two strategies last week: putting together a "multibillion-dollar recapitalization project," and pushing for inclusion of Wachovia in the federal bank bailout program.

Watt said Wachovia, facing a run on some deposits in late September, couldn't stand on its own long enough to grab that lifeline. But resisting Wells Fargo now likely would invite a lawsuit, on top of the legal action already taken by the original suitor, Citigroup, which was poised to purchase Wachovia's banking operations, then spurned.

"You'd have rolling lawsuits, I think," Watt said. "If there were a viable, reasonable way to save Wachovia, I'd be delighted. But it's too complicated, too many legal entanglements."

He also sees the merger as an opportunity for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo to become a national competitor to Bank of America with "multiple centers of gravity," including Charlotte. He's urging Wells Fargo leaders to retain operations in Charlotte and Winston-Salem, he said.

Watt is likely right about timing. Moore's "multibillion-dollar recapitalization package" might have shored up Wachovia a few months ago. Now Wells Fargo's offer is the best deal on the table.

"I don't like to tread upstream against a tide," Watt said. Moore's been doing that all year.