Pat McCrory, the N.C. Republican gubernatorial candidate, seven-term mayor of Charlotte and a 1978 Catawba College alumnus, stumped for votes at his alma mater on Thursday, Sept. 13.  McCrory, accompanied by New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie, and other state Republican candidates and officials, spoke during a rally held in Kirkland Lobby of the Abernethy Physical Education Center on campus.

Several hundred people attended the event at which McCrory sported a navy Catawba College t-shirt over his dress shirt and tie. Catawba College students, dressed in business casual, worked as volunteers at the event.

McCrory said it was "a great day to be in Salisbury, my second home."  And, he joked about his former Catawba College professor, Dr. Sanford Silverburg, whom he said has had a long-lasting influence and impact on his life. 

"He's a flaming liberal," McCrory explained of Silverburg. "We've been arguing now for 30 or 40 years. He's coming around because he's at a Pat McCrory for Governor Rally."

Christie noted he wants to come back in 2013 to see McCrory sworn in as the state's next governor.  In typical, unorthodox Christie fashion, he warned that state residents wouldn't want him to visit the state if McCrory loses the election.

"Let me tell you something," Christie said, adding tongue-in-cheek, "If you mess this thing up and you have McCrory come up short, I will be back and you might say I'll be cross. Up in Jersey, we say I'll be back and I'll be pissed."

McCrory faces Democratic challenger, N.C. Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, in the Nov. 6 election.

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