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A raucuous fight with Republicans is just what Perdue needs

From Thomas Mills, a Democratic political consultant based in Carrboro:

Gov. Bev Perdue is redrawing the 2012 political landscape with her veto pen.

The Republican-controlled legislature is churning out legislation with deep cuts to education, economic development, environmental protections and the unemployed. Perdue is sending it back to the legislature as fast as it hits her desk, using her veto pen to draw a stark line between her political philosophy and that of the Republicans in the legislature.

Considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic governors in the country, Perdue's popularity has seldom risen above 40 percent. She was elected just after the financial collapse and oversaw the worst economy since the Great Depression, taking the blame for high unemployment and the resulting budget dilemma. Adding to her problems, North Carolina's recovery has lagged behind the rest of the country with unemployment hovering around 10 percent.

However, that picture of the governor may soon begin to change.

A loud and raucous fight with the Republicans is just what Perdue needs. It gives the governor an opportunity to define herself, something she has thus far been unable to do. She can show her mettle, and her political beliefs, by defending public education, victims of the economic bust and job creating programs from the Republican budget ax.

And the Republicans are making it easy.

They were elected to deal with jobs and the economy, but instead have focused on shrinking the government and satisfying their Tea Party base.

They've focused too much on the budget crisis and not enough on the economic one. For instance, Republicans have a bill that would kill more than 4,000 jobs associated with building rail lines because "we don't need any more federal jobs." People losing their homes due to unemployment generally don't care who's writing the check as long as it's made out to them.

Perdue has the chance to be a champion. Just this week, she stood with the unemployed when she vetoed a bill that played politics with their benefits. And she defended workers who need retraining and high school grads trying to enter the work force by protecting community college loans that Republicans tried to cut. And earlier this year, she fought for jobs in rural North Carolina by protecting economic development funds that Republicans wanted to steal. Wait till the cuts to public schools come down the pike.

Smart use of the veto can change the public perception of Perdue that threatens her re-election. She can rally a Democratic base that has been lukewarm about her at best.

And she can draw the battle lines for 2012. She can articulate a clear choice for the independent voters who determine elections in North Carolina: a Democratic governor who stands up for workers, education and economic development or a Republican agenda focused more on ideological than economic issues.

Thomas Mills is a partner in the Democratic consulting firm Bates and Mills Consulting. Mills served as general consultant to the Marshall for U.S. Senate campaign.