Mayor Pat McCrory is making noises like he really wants to run for governor. An email to supporters today discloses that the Mayor used some of his warchest to poll himself into the guv’bner race.

# If the election for Governor were held today, who would you vote for or lean towards if the candidates were Pat McCrory, the Republican candidate; Richard Moore, the Democratic candidate; Michael Munger, the Libertarian candidate; and Dennis Neilson, the Independent candidate?

# Pat McCrory 36%
# Richard Moore 37%
# Michael Munger 4%
# Dennis Neilson 3%
# Don’t know 18%
# Refused 1%

These results are outstanding since we have not initiated a state-wide campaign and it shows we can win both the primary and general election.

They also show a very large number of undecideds, which means the race is wide open.

Yeah, could be. Were it only about name ID. As we talked about the other day, McCrory needs two more things: issues and money. He’s trying on the first count:

1) State Government must change leadership to address taxes and spending, illegal immigration, health care costs, transportation and roads, ethics, education, jobs and economic development.

2) The current group of leading candidates among both Democrats and Republicans are part of the status quo. They have been campaigning for a year, spending hundreds of thousand dollars, yet little interest, support or enthusiasm has made any one candidate stand out or seen as a candidate of real change.

3) My successful leadership skills and experience outside of Raleigh would make us a strong candidate.

This is phrased exactly correctly in terms of running against Raleigh and as a change agent. But change to what?

I’d suggest Pat take a long, hard look at what Mitch Daniels has done in Indiana with regard to completely overhauling the state’s mindset, starting with transportation infrastructure and financing. Here’s how Governing magazine reported on a recent Daniels speech:

In many ways, government has the option of ignoring the push to perform. Government is, after all, “the last real monopoly,” noted Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. “Government has the luxury of doing a bad job and nothing bad happens,” he said. “It’s hard to get performance management when there’s an absence of competition.”

“Progress starts with data,” said Daniels, who director of the White House Office of Management and Budget during the first term of President George W. Bush. And, he added, top-down support is critical. “In a monopoly, accountability for results has to be implanted by strong leadership.”

Big stuff. And exactly what Raleigh needs. Do we think Mayor Pat is up to it?

Update: I should be clearer about what this poll is an is not: It is not some objective projection of the 08 outcome or even a snapshot of today. It is a marketing device. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Pat is essentially put it out there as a proof-of-concept for all the investors (contributors) he’d need to bring the product (him) to market. He is telling them, “Hey, I’m in the ballpark.” Now he needs to see who it convinces — if anyone.

I hear there are some nibbles, but nothing concrete.