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Anti-Charlotte sentiment not intention of ad, Perdue says

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bev Perdue on Friday defended a campaign ad that singles out Charlotte from the rest of the state. The ad is running in the Raleigh, Greensboro and Triad markets, but it's not playing in the Charlotte market. A photograph of her opponent McCrory is in the foreground of a graphic of the state. Charlotte's skyline sprouts up where the city would sit on a map. Then the state shatters and the piece with the skyline drifts toward the mayor's image. The narrator says: "This must be how Charlotte's mayor sees North Carolina. McCrory says we should take money away from rural highways" It says McCrory has tried to direct road money to his city and away from the state's rural areas. During an appearance Friday on Charlotte's West Side, Perdue faced reporters questions about the ad. "The average person sees that ad as us against them, Charlotte versus Raleigh. How do you explain?" asks Charlotte Observer columnist Tonya Jameson. Perdue cuts her off and replies, "Let me just be direct with you. I hate that kind of phrase as much as the people in Charlotte." Perdue says not all of her ads run in every market. And she emphasized that this one is about the mayor, not about dividing Charlotte from the rest of the state. "I will be the governor who ends this breakdown of communication between charlotte and the other counties if it exists," she says. Perdue again reiterated a frequent message during visits to Charlotte, that as governor she would open an office here. The Mecklenburg County Republican Party, meanwhile, posted video of Perdue's ad on its Web site. The site says: "Normally, we would not show one of our opponent's TV ads, but this is the exception to the rule because those of us in this market will never see it - and YOU MUST SEE IT!"