Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee, criticized his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, for opposing offshore drilling to help boost the domestic oil supply.

"North Carolina has to be part of the energy solution," McCrory told the crowd of about 150 N.C. Farm Bureau members at the organization's headquarters in Raleigh. The two candidates spoke separately and did not debate.

Perdue, who spoke first, didn't talk about offshore drilling but has said she opposes it along North Carolina's coast because oil companies already have exploration rights on millions of acres elsewhere.

"Oil companies need to start drilling there first, and they can start today," Perdue spokesman Tim Crowley said later.

McCrory, attempting to become the first Charlotte mayor elected governor, has tried to tap into voters' frustrations about gas prices by supporting offshore drilling.

The Republican says it could be done safely and beyond the vistas of the state's beaches. He is sensitive to the concerns of the business community, most of whom support his campaign.

Perdue, who would be the state's first female governor, generally has toed the Democratic party line that solutions to the nation's energy woes lie in new technologies, not in drilling for more oil and gas.

She is sensitive to the state's environmental advocates, most of whom support her candidacy.

Also during Thursday's forum, both candidates pledged to help grow the state's biotechnology industries.

McCrory said the research going on presents "incredible opportunities" and is a natural fit because any manufacturing is so close to the state's farms and crops that could supply them.

Perdue said the biotech industries are generating new jobs and can create the next generation of biofuels.

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