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RALEIGH — So is Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue a racist who wants to make college tuition expensive for your child? Is Richard Moore a race-baiting tool of Wall Street whose coffers are stuffed with illicit brokerage-house money?

Going just by the onslaught of television ads, mailers and even some media coverage, Democratic voters might be excused for wondering which, exactly, might be the lesser of two evils.

The good news is that both candidates are long-tenured elected officials with experience in the legislative and executive branches and plenty of qualifications. Both share a variety of policy positions and come from the same business-friendly centrist section of the Democratic Party.

On the downside, that makes it harder for voters to sort between the two candidates, whose biggest difference may be style rather than substance.

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One point of fairness. A third name will be on the Democratic Primary ballot: Dennis Nielsen, a retired Army colonel. Nielsen has not raised money, and although he has attended televised debates, he lacks the financial reach and statewide volunteer network. He trails badly in the polls.

Perdue served two terms in the state House before getting elected to the Senate in 1990. She served 10 years there before winning her post as lieutenant governor.

Although her current post comes with little power or responsibility other than presiding in the state Senate, Perdue adopted a portfolio of issues that included tobacco prevention and protection of the state's military bases.

"You've seen me take on tobacco when no one else was doing it," Perdue said Friday. Her office led a campaign to urge school systems to make their campuses tobacco-free.

Moore served one term in the House before a failed bid for Congress in 1994. From 1995 to 1999 he served as then-Gov. Jim Hunt's appointed Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety.

In 2000, he was elected state treasurer and plays up his management of North Carolina's pension fund as a part of his campaign.

"I have the most accountable job in state government," Moore said during a recent event, saying that the performance of the state pension fund has been rated second-best in the nation.

Both politicians careers' seem to be building to the point where they could make their stand for governor. So is the loser finished in politics?

"No, no, Lord no," said Sen. Tony Rand, a state senator from Fayetteville and a former statewide candidate. Whoever doesn't make it through the primary should stay involved, Rand said. "This is just one election. There's always the next one."

And both candidates have pledged to help the other in the fall general election campaign. So what's with the rough stuff?

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The state constitution requires Gov. Mike Easley to leave the executive mansion this year. In a recent interview, he seemed bemused by the rhetorical fisticuffs between the two candidates, saying he wished issues had been more front-and-center in the campaign. Yes, Easley said, he's mentioned his preferences, but, "They're going to do what they're going to do.

"Both of the candidates — well, they both have good records period. They have good records of campaigning and winning. ... So you could argue very easily both of them know more about elections than I do."

For a time, both candidates hammered away at each other in television ads.

Earlier in the campaign, Perdue made use of a Forbes story that pointed out that Moore took thousands of dollars from investment companies who then did work for the state pension fund he controls. Although nothing there is illegal, Perdue's ad suggested Moore was beholden to those companies.

In the past month, Perdue promised to go positive and avoid more negative attacks, although Moore supporters accuse her of breaking that pledge by using third parties and striking back at Moore in debates.

Moore has never let up the pressure. His most recent barrage has questioned Perdue's commitment on civil rights legislation, including a vote against a bill that made it easier to prosecute groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

Perdue called the vote a mistake and has rolled endorsements from a host of African American supporters such as former Charlotte mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Harvey Gantt and Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat who leads the legislative black caucus.

Adams appears in a television ad for Perdue.

"I've known (Perdue) for a long while, and she's done good work," Adams said in an interview Friday. "And," she added, "I know for a fact who led the fight for the minimum wage."

That last comment was a not-so-subtle dig at Moore, who includes helping to raise the state minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.15 in some of his campaign ads. Adams was the legislative sponsor of that bill.

But Pricey Harrison, another Greensboro Democrat, points out that Moore spoke out on the minimum-wage issue long before many other statewide figures.

Harrison says much of the campaign sniping between Perdue and Moore is a "turnoff," but said, "I do agree with Richard Moore's point that highlighting shortcomings on a person's voting record is not a negative attack."

On Friday, Moore's campaign renewed his attack on Perdue's civil rights record by calling a news conference and displaying products bought at stores owned by Perdue's family in Georgia. Those products carried the stars-and-bars confederate battle flag design, seen by some as racist.

Moore campaign manager Jay Reiff said the merchandise was "inappropriate," saying, "just because I think some people would find it offensive. ... Look, this is a very competitive race, and we think that voters will be the judges of what is out there and what it affects."

Perdue's campaign decried the attack, calling it "low" and saying it distracted from the issues.

"Richard Moore's campaign is sinking to new lows by resorting to race-baiting tactics," said Rep. Mickey Michaux, an African American legislator who backs Perdue.

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On the issues, both candidates can find a lot to agree about. Both, for example, have offered plans to make community college tuition-free for North Carolina students. And both have pledged to play a strong role in cleaning up problems associated with the attempted reform of the state's mental health system.

Both say the state needs to do more to control state spending.

Perdue said she would do this by setting up a commission to prune state government and lobbying for a law that would require legislators to make a single up-or-down vote on that commission's recommendations.

Moore said he would make more vigorous use of the governor's veto authority.

The responses seem shaped by the two candidates' experience. Perdue spent longer in the legislature and even as lieutenant governor was involved in running the Senate. Moore served one term in the legislature and draws more on executive experience.

When asked why voters should back them, the two candidates again reveal their stylistic difference.

"The thing that separates me from the pack is I've fought the status quo my whole life," Perdue said Friday. "I've fought for better things for families, including my own."

Her answer draws on her narrative of coming from a family where neither parent finished high school and of working her way up through a political world dominated by men.

Moore points to his experience, portraying himself as a hard-nosed manager who has fixed problems in the state's emergency response system and saved taxpayers money while treasurer.

He said voters should look at their track record:

"When you had the opportunity to get something done, did you get it done? Or are you talking about things you've been talking about for 20 years? And I think that is a big difference."

Contact Mark Binker at(919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com