Talk about a double-whammy.

A primary challenge from CMS Board member Ken Gjertsen, built specifically around the question of the half-cent transit tax repeal. Then a general election facing state Rep. Beverly Earle (D) in place of what had been only token opposition.

Somebody check and see if Mayor Pat has fallen off his front porch.

Seriously, of the two developments Gjertsen’s challenge is far more shocking and potentially more serious.

For several days now anyone with political sense in Charlotte has wondered where the black candidates were. Mayor Pat’s trumped up dust up with the NAACP clearly set the stage for a credible black candidate to leap in have a ready-made issue and attention.

In addition, it is not a surprise that Earle would opt in given her particular circumstances. One, she does not face election this year for her General Assembly seat, making a choice to run for another office “free” up front. Two, Earle has been caught up in the black caucus foundation situation in which money from the foundation flowed to relatives of lawmakers.

In sum, Earle needs to change the subject and running for mayor is a great way to do so. But this does not make her remotely electable in Charlotte. Not with Jim Black a federal felon and investigations ongoing in Raleigh. This is not a good year to be a state rep asking for votes and that alone may be all McCrory needs.

The Gjertsen matter is much more interesting. No one anticipated a fairly middle-of-the-road Republican office holder to be so upset about McCrory’s handling of CATS and the city’s fiscal matters in general that they would stand to run against the mayor.

Yet it happened. The question immediately becomes how many other similar Republicans has the mayor so alienated? It does not have to be very many to get very interesting very quickly in the close confines of a party primary.

Gjertsen has nothing to lose with this run. He’s not up this year either and will only polish his conservative credentials among his South Charlotte base.

And make no mistake, there is anger directed toward the Mayor over the city’s transit mess and especially in his refusal to admit that there might be problems with the current approach.

Might this add up to a Lynn Wheeler moment for McCrory?

Too early to tell. The challenge surely puts another dent in the myth of Uptown invincibility and cements 2007 as a very interesting political year for Charlotte.

Update: WBT’s Stacey Simms asked a good question this morning about Mayor McCrory’s political savvy and ability to sidestep responsibility for the Uptown Arena. Can’t he do the same with regard to the light rail situation? I think I had a good response in that the Mayor clearly views Charlotte’s light rail adventure as his signature achievement, going all the way back to the passage of the half-cent in 1998. That is 10-years of advocacy.

It will be very hard, if not impossible, to untangle from that track record in a matter of months. Besides there is no one else in the political arena to pin the system on. Tom Cox is gone, Pat Mumford is gone, even Pam Syfert is gone.

It is the Mayor on an island on this one.

Update II: It is official, Gjertsen has filed.