Claim: “The One N.C. Fund has created 60,000 jobs and produced $11 billion worth of investments since its inception.”

Speaker: Walter Dalton at Democratic gubernatorial debate Monday

Claim: “When I was superintendent of schools North Carolina was making real progress. We improved test scores more than any other state in the nation.”

Speaker: Bob Etheridge at Democratic gubernatorial debate Monday

Claim: "(Fracking) would only bring to the state at most about 100 jobs."

Speaker: Bill Faison at Democratic gubernatorial debate Monday

Claim: "At the federal, we only get 92 cents out of every dollar we are spending to Washington."

Speaker: Bob Etheridge at Democratic gubernatorial debate Monday

Claim: "The net effect is no new jobs. We have the same number of jobs we did a dozen of years ago and a million more people."

Speaker: Bill Faison at Democratic gubernatorial debate Monday

The Democratic candidates for Governor will have three hour-long debates this week, each airing live on local television stations.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch to describe Bret Baier's rise at Fox News as meteoric. In just about 10 years, the Atlanta native went from starting the network’s Atlanta bureau (which consisted of a cell phone and fax machine in his apartment), to lead news anchor, drawing 2 million viewers each night. What many of those viewers may not know is that Baier credits part of that rapid rise to his two-year gig at WRAL in the 1990s.

Baier, anchor of the one-hour "Special Report with Bret Baier" (6 p.m., Monday-Friday), was hired away from WRAL in 1998 by Fox News to start the Atlanta bureau, and then moved to Washington in 2001 as their Pentagon correspondent. He became the White House Correspondent in 2006 and replaced Brit Hume as the Fox News nightly anchor in January 2009.

Baier will moderate the South Carolina GOP debate in Myrtle Beach on Monday (9 p.m., Fox News Channel).

We spoke to Baier by phone on Friday and asked him about his time at WRAL, his family in D.C., and how he plans to handle the big South Carolina debate. Below are excerpts from that conversation.

The first debate between all three candidates in North Carolina's US Senate race will be aired live tomorrow morning on News 14 Carolina.

The one-hour debate, from the NC Bar Association's state conference in Wilmington, will feature Republican incumbent Richard Burr, Democratic candidate (NC Secretary of State) Elaine Marshall, and Libertarian candidate Michael Beitler.

The debate airs live at 11am but will also be available for viewing anytime through Time Warner Cable's free "Carolina on Demand" service (digital channels 199 and 1047).

Every letter The N&O received today regarding the vice presidential debate was basically pro-Biden. Have a look at some. Add your comments. These letters appear online only.

Lots of presidents popped up in letters from N&O readers on Friday night's presidential debate. These letters appear online only.