Inside, North Carolina’s Governor Pat McCrory will square off against his challenger for the Governor’s seat, NC Attorney General, Roy Cooper, in the first real debate the two have had.

They took part in a town hall-styled event during the summer, which saw Cooper largely unable to counter McCrory’s solid record of fiscal success.

Outside the event, being held in the UNC-TV studios, however, is a mixed bag of whacked-out, leftist fringe lunatics, bent on attacking anything that doesn’t fall into line with their alternate reality frame of mind.

Outside the studios, a coalition calling itself the Triangle May Day Unity coalition gathered to pressure McCrory and Cooper to improve their records on a variety of issues: addressing police violence, ending cooperation with federal immigration officials, welcoming Syrian refugees and establishing a $15-an-hour minimum wage and collective bargaining.

“The purpose of this action is to lift the voices of those on the receiving end of systemic violence,” Desmera Gatewood said in a statement on behalf of the coalition. “In the midst of flagrant attacks on working class people, LGTBQ people, Black and Brown people — two rich cis white men, who actively participated in the oppression of the groups named, are debating tonight to convince the public to elect them.”

Cooper would actually agree to all of their terms, as he has shown himself more than willing to allow very liberal, destructive outside forces to pay his way through this campaign.

The contest between McCrory and Cooper is one of the tightest, as well as most closely watched in the nation.

McCrory, a strong fiscal conservative, as well as one who has stood quite firm on most social issues, has been hit with a wave of attack ads over everything from the voter ID bill that was signed into law, then overturned by activist judges with the 4^th Circuit Court of Appeals several months ago, to HB2, the “bathroom law” that restricts bathroom access to the natural birth, as noted on an individual’s birth certificate.

Cooper has been in his position as NC AG for around 16 years, with very little positive results, but because he has faced weak or no opposition through the years, he has somehow slipped through the cracks and remained in office. This, in spite of a backlog of cases in the state’s crime labs, and a host of other failures to do his job, as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

So shoddy is Cooper’s reputation in his job, that every major law enforcement organization in the state has endorsed McCrory for reelection.

I have to really wonder why somebody so lackadaisical with his current duties would want to take on more responsibility?

Governor McCrory has been hit with a spate of emergency issues, of late.

Last month, it was the rioting in Charlotte, after a Charlotte police officer shot Keith Scott, a black man with an extensive criminal record for violent offenses. Initial reports were that Scott was unarmed, simply reading a book. As facts later emerged, however, complete with witness reports and pictures, it turns out Scott did, in fact, have a weapon and refused to drop the weapon when ordered to, several times by officers.

As it has been in other areas, outside agitators and others descended on Charlotte and caused several nights of havoc, before McCrory called in the National Guard and State Troopers to aid the CPD with restoring order.

The latest bad news to hit the Tarheel state has been Hurricane Matthew, which blew through the state on Saturday, causing flooding and damage, leaving thousands with no power and a number of storm related deaths.

McCrory has been doing three to four updates per day, either on local news outlets, or by live Facebook feed.

In fact, as he prepares to go into tonight’s debate, expect to see him looking slightly worn. His last update was around 5pm EST.

The hour-long debate will be moderated by NBC’s Chuck Todd, and has a wider interest than just within North Carolina.

The debate airs tonight at 7pm EST on UNC-TV, but you can expect there to be some later interest on the nightly news.