The Democratic candidates for governor have kicked up the rhetoric - and even a few issues - with eight months to go before next May's primary. With Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and State Treasurer Richard Moore both relatively well-known to Democrats and each raising more than $4 million so far - though Perdue has yet to officially say she's running - these dustups signal the start of an expensive and grinding campaign.

The one who survives likely begins as the front-runner in the November 2008 general election campaign in a state where Republicans haven't won a gubernatorial race since 1988. Democratic Gov. Mike Easley is barred from running for a third consecutive term.

"They can get down and dirty in a hurry if there are only two of them," said Ted Arrington, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "I think it's going to be a bruising campaign."

The campaigns were generally quiet over the summer until a committee for North Carolina Association of Educators recommended two weeks ago that the powerful teachers' group should endorse Perdue. By Gary D Robertson