by Julie Rose, WFAE.org
The two most likely candidates for North Carolina governor in 2012 are already raising significant money: Governor Bev Perdue's re-election campaign reports pocketing $1.3 million in the first half of this year. Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory raised just over a million.
The general election is still 16 months away and nobody's officially joined the race for North Carolina governor, but Â鶹APPpolitical science professor Dr. Michael Bitzer says the fundraising numbers make the leading candidates clear.
"We've speculated for a long time about whether it's gonna be a rematch of '08," says Bitzer. "This pretty much solidifies it. Nobody can really come out with numbers to even be close to that."
