Even Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory likes that Democrats are swarming all over Charlotte this week.

"They won't let me in my own city," the seven-term Charlotte mayor said Monday evening with a laugh.

McCrory says the Democratic National Convention is great for the city and North Carolina.

"We're proud the convention is here," he said. "I don't think the economic value is as great as the economic developers say it is, but I'm glad that Charlotte is on the map and North Carolina's on the map. We just don't want the policies they're promoting (at the convention) to stay in North Carolina."

Even though President Barack Obama will accept the nomination for a second term, McCrory sees advantages from the convention for himself and other Republicans on the North Carolina ballot.

"From a political standpoint, I think what's going to happen this time is that the North Carolina Democrats will not be able to escape the Washington (D.C.) Democrats," he said. "The Democrats in Washington are much more liberal than the old North Carolina Democratic Party, but the current Democratic Party has gone for 'Obamacare,' has gone for a stimulus that didn't work and is fighting a very high unemployment rate in North Carolina."

Despite polls showing him well ahead of his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, McCrory said he plans to campaign hard through Election Day.

"I know the Obama machine will be on the ground in North Carolina, and they're going to spend millions of dollars," he said. "We know we have to have a grassroots campaign."

McCrory credited his lead to steering clear of negative campaign commercials. He shrugged off suggestions from Dalton's campaign that his career in business wasn't entirely on the up-and-up.

"They're going to try to come up with as many bogus arguments to try to hide the bad economy in North Carolina as possible," McCrory said. "This is what Obama is doing against (Republican presidential candidate Mitt) Romney, and this is what Dalton's doing to me.

"I'm proud of my private sector employment," he said. "These attacks coming from Washington and from Walter Dalton against the private sector is exactly what we don't need in North Carolina. We need to build the private sector (and) value the private sector."