Hundreds turn out for McCrory rally featuring NJ Governor Christie | Politics

SALISBURY - The lobby in the Kirkland Gym at Catawba College in Salisbury was rocking for a few hours Thursday afternoon.  Republican candidate for Governor Pat McCrory held a rally with New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie as the guest speaker.

But before the rally, the governor and the man who wants to be governor took in the BBQ and Cheerwine at Rick's BBQ on S. main Street.

They went from handshakes with a few customers to hundreds waiting in the lobby of the gym at Catawba College, where McCrory went to school. The former Charlotte mayor touted his record.

"We built an economic powerhouse 45 miles from here, now why not do it for the rest of the state of North Carolina," McCrory said to an enthusiastic crowd.

Governor Christie was given a rousing welcome, and was still praising Cheerwine, even putting a can on the podium when he took the mic for a decibel busting endorsement of McCrory.

"We don't want to worry about corruption at the state capitol, we don't want to worry about declining employment and less people at work everyday and all these economic difficulties, we know North Carolina is better than that, all we need is a leader whose willing to tell you the truth," Christie said. "Pat's opponent has learned at her knee and you know that's true. Don't be fooled by the Lieutenant Governor, the Lieutenant Governor only knows one way to govern and that's watching how Bev Perdue and her people did it over the last four years and North Carolina doesn't need four more years of Perdue and Dalton in this state, you need four years of Pat McCrory to get us out of this hole."

600 tickets for the event went quickly.  A group of twenty who came from Burke County.

"It's important for my children, my grandchildren, the future of our nation," one of the Burke County visitors told WBTV.  "We do need to turn our government around."

And there was opposition, a group of three from Progress North Carolina, including one dressed in an owl outfit, is demanding that McCrory release his tax records, they say Christie did it, so why won't Pat?

"If her would release his tax returns and release a client list and reasonably detailed explanation of what he does in the private sector, people could answer some of these questions," asked Gerrick Brenner.

Notables in the crowd included Food Lion founder and Salisbury native Ralph Ketner, Charlotte radio host Paul Schadt, and Catawba College President Brien Lewis, who introduced McCrory.

McCrory's opponent released the following statement regarding the rally and the visit by Governor Christie:

Dalton for Governor Spokesman Schorr Johnson made the following statement:

“Pat McCrory’s so-called jobs plan is based on Chris Christie’s failed ‘New Jersey Comeback.’ Like his role model, Chris Christie, Pat McCrory talks about himself a lot with no concrete solutions for creating jobs. While Walter Dalton is focusing on his real plan to put people back to work, Pat McCrory is spending his day as a partisan groupie.”