Governor Mike Easley AGE — 54. OCCUPATION — Governor. FAMILY — Wife, Mary, a professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law; son, Michael Jr., a college student. POLITICAL HISTORY — Easley became the district attorney for Brunswick and other southeastern counties in 1982. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990 but lost in a Democratic primary runoff to former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt. In 1992, he was elected to the first of two terms as attorney general. He handily defeated then-Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker in the 2000 gubernatorial primary, then beat former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot in the general election with 52 percent of the vote. He faced token opposition in 2004 Democratic primary. QUOTE — “We made the hard choices. We did the right things in North Carolina. We invested more in education. We cut government, tightened our belt and took the savings and put them into education. As a result of that, we’re seeing our students reaching higher levels.” A campaign strategist couldn’t have scripted Democratic Gov. Mike Easley’s re-election bid any better. A flurry of job announcements, bill signings and education initiatives in recent months have kept Easley squarely in the public eye, letting official gubernatorial events do has campaigning for him. Take a recent announcement in Halifax County, where PCB Group president David Hore talked about his decision to hire 250 new workers. Hore said it wasn’t just economic incentives that sealed the deal, but the state’s people: economic development recruiters, legislators who brokered a deal and Easley himself, who placed a call to Hore. “That shows that you are ’One North Carolina,’” Hore said, referring to the concept of statewide economic development opportunity Easley has touted since his 2001 inaugural address. Turning to Easley, Hore added: “So it’s working, what you’re doing.” Even a disastrous hurricane season in which the state was battered from the mountains to the coast worked to Easley’s advantage, offering numerous photo opportunities of the governor surveying damage from a helicopter. As he seeks a second term in the Nov. 2 general election, Easley has projected an image of confidence and command, putting the burden on Republican challenger Patrick Ballantine to convince voters that the Democrat is unfit. Few foresaw such a turn of events three years ago, when the state was in a fiscal crisis and Easley’s gubernatorial style was drawing complaints from legislators. “Now it’s starting to be fun,” Easley said at one of the handful of campaign events he has staged this fall, in downtown Raleigh. “And all I’m saying to you is, ’We’ve got a little money, for God sake, don’t kick us out now.’” Money problems threatened to define Easley’s term early on. The governor called a fiscal emergency within a month of his swearing-in, as a combination of recession and “federal trade policies” — Easley’s words — battered traditional industries like textiles and furniture jobs. The budget shortfall bottomed out at $1.6 billion in 2002, as state revenue actually declined year-to-year for the first time in at least three decades. Easley made some unpopular decisions, filling budget gaps with money that was supposed to go to state employee retirement pension funds and by withholding tax reimbursements to local governments. Both actions prompted lawsuits. In 2001, to generate new revenue, he signed into law a half-cent sales tax increase and a higher income tax bracket for the top wage-earners. Those “temporary” taxes have since been extended through 2005, a fact Ballantine has hammered in his campaign. Easley wanted a state-run lottery that would provide a revenue stream for his pet education initiatives, but his laid-back approach to lobbying befuddled lawmakers accustomed to the horsetrading techniques of his energetic predecessor, Jim Hunt. This year, Easley has built much of his argument for re-election on educational initiatives that he believes will build a better-trained work force that can compete in a post-manufacturing economy. Every year since 2001, Easley has made reduced class sizes in kindergarten through grade three and More at Four, his pet program to prepare 4-year-olds for public school, the heart of his budget proposals to the General Assembly. Threatening vetoes when necessary, he has expanded funding in each year. Legislators “had the courage to make tough calls down there at the General Assembly to make sure that while ... other states were balancing their budgets on the back of the schoolkids, we said, ’No, we won’t do it. We’re going to invest more in education,’” Easley said. Easley said he will continue pushing for an education lottery if re-elected. On the Net: The Mike Easley Committee: http://www.mikeeasley.org Patrick J. Ballantine AGE — 39. OCCUPATION — Attorney with Lineberry, White, Hearne & Ballantine of Wilmington. FAMILY — Wife, Lisa, an attorney; daughter, Wilker. POLITICAL HISTORY — The local Republican activist challenged a House Democratic incumbent in early 1994 before being appointed to the Senate after the death of John Codington. He won five successive terms and was elected Senate Republican leader in 1998. He resigned from the minority leadership and his seat in April to run for governor full-time. Ballantine led all vote-getters in the six-way July 20 GOP primary, edging second-place Richard Vinroot by 1,509 votes. QUOTE — “Republicans care deeply about improving education. We can do it without taxing you billions of more dollars. That’s the difference. We can improve education by prioritizing education dollars.” As a bluegrass quartet strummed on a Wake County farm’s lakefront and Republicans ate barbecue, Patrick Ballantine chatted with young and old alike, hoping to prove he can bridge the North Carolina GOP’s generation gap. At 39, Ballantine says he is in the vanguard of a new generation of conservative leadership that came of age as North Carolina evolved into a two-party state. Now, he hopes a second straight comeback can make him North Carolina’s third Republican governor since 1896. Polls show the former Senate minority leader trailing incumbent Mike Easley, who did not face serious primary opposition and has a large fund-raising advantage. Ballantine’s challenge is to reach beyond the Republican base and convince independents and conservative Democrats that he’s more trustworthy than Easley on education and taxes. “People in North Carolina are tired of the politics of the past. They want somebody that they can believe in,” Ballantine said in a stump speech. “They want somebody that can change this state and give people hope, and that’s what my campaign is all about.” Ballantine said he hasn’t changed his campaign style much since he first won election to the state Senate a decade ago: just showing up is half the fight. That’s why Ballantine visited all 100 counties during the primary campaign, making an effort to contact black voters and others, even when there was no obvious ballot box advantage to be gained. Ballantine has scored one upset already, by becoming the first Republican gubernatorial candidate ever endorsed by the State Employees Association of North Carolina. But that victory supplied Easley with ammunition, as SEANC’s executive director said Ballantine told him he may have to raise taxes to pay for 5 percent state worker pay raises he pledged to support. The group’s leader has since said he misspoke, but the damage was done: an Easley ad questioned how Ballantine can agree to pay hikes while proposing tax cuts totaling $1.1 billion. Ballantine says he can do both, by cutting government waste and bloated bureaucracies. While he was minority leader in the Senate, Ballantine said, he and other Senate Republicans offered $1 billion in proposed cost savings that were brushed aside by Democrats. One thing Ballantine has shown himself to be is aggressive. In a debate on education, he attacked hard against Easley, who has long portrayed himself as an “education governor.” Ballantine said his vote for school accountability legislation showed him to be a true champion of education, while low graduation rates and SAT scores prove Easley is a failure. He also touted a “Read to Succeed” program that would bring tutors to schools to help all children read by second grade. And he has run an ad that hammers Easley for signing several tax increases into law during his first term. Easley has said increases were needed to fill a deep budget hole he inherited when he took office in 2001. Ballantine’s 100-county swing and GOP primary win raised his name recognition statewide, but he is still a low-profile candidate in many of the Down East precincts where Easley runs strongest. But spending more time in rural counties will be tough in the campaign’s last weeks. Ballantine is holding 40 fund-raisers in the campaign’s last 40 days, meaning fewer opportunities to reach undecideds who don’t catch his television ads. Ballantine said his campaign’s private polls show him “within striking distance” of Easley and shoos away pessimism like an aggravating mosquito. “Hard work will pay off,” he said before before heading out west to campaign with fresh clothes his wife, Lisa, and 5-year-old daughter brought to him after two weeks on the road. To prove his point, Ballantine told the Wake County crowd about a valet he met in downtown Raleigh. The man, a 29-year state employee, told Ballantine he works a second job to make ends meet and has been a Democrat his entire life. But come Nov. 2, Ballantine said, “he’s voting for me.” On the Net: Ballantine for Governor: http://ballantineforgovernor.com/ — Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press