N.C. Governor candidate Bev Perdue (D) told Polk County democrats last week that to make a strong North Carolina, &dquo;you&squo;ve got to continue to invest in your people,&dquo; and to &dquo;continue to educate your people.&dquo;

Perdue, currently N.C. Lieutenant Governor, spoke in front of over 50 Polk County residents at the Polk County Democrat Headquarters last Friday in Columbus.

Perdue is the first woman ever elected Lt. Governor in North Carolina and became the first woman ever elected to the state House from her part of the state. She currently lives in New Bern and grew up in a small town in the mountains of Virginia.

Prior to running for office, Perdue was a public school teacher and a director of geriatric services at a community hospital. She holds a Ph.D. in Education Administration.

Last Friday Perdue spoke on her small town values and beliefs that every child should have the opportunity to become whatever they want in life.

&dquo;We&squo;re going to let them have a chance to be somebody,&dquo; Perdue says.

She says she&squo;s spent a lot of time building schools and colleges in North Carolina and her goals include continuing to find good teachers and providing great salaries for those teachers as well as making programs for older folks and retirees. She also mentioned her passion for healthy living and wanting to &dquo;provide programs to make sure people live healthfully and hopefully in their own homes.&dquo;

Perdue said when she got fed up with the national government working in geriatrics in the mid to late 1980s, she decided to run for office because she thought she could make a difference.

Her party told her she couldn&squo;t win because she is a woman and North Carolina is never going to elect a woman.

&dquo;We had a real good win,&dquo; she said. &dquo;Ya&squo;ll, we won in 1986 and continued to win and intend to win this race in November.&dquo;

Perdue ended her talk in Polk County with a story about going to Walmart one Saturday morning with no make-up on and wearing shorts and a t-shirt. She said people say all kinds of things to her, so when a woman came up to her and asked if she was Bev Perdue she figured the woman was going to tell her she shouldn&squo;t come out looking like that. But this woman wanted her to meet her daughter, Perdue said. The daughter, who was about in the fifth or sixth grade,&bsp;&bsp; asked if she could be like Perdue one day. Perdue responded that of course she could, she could be anything she wants with education, even president.

&dquo;I believe it for everybody,&dquo; Perdue said, &dquo;that everybody deserves a shot at being somebody in North Carolina.&dquo;

She said she never makes promises, but did say she is a hard worker and that people in North Carolina would never be disappointed in her.

&dquo;My promise to you is that you&squo;ll never be sorry,&dquo; said Perdue. &dquo;What I need from you is your friendship, your advice, your loyalty and your health.&dquo;