Raleigh, N.C. — Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, the Democratic candidate for governor, offered a 15-page plan that he says would improve the state's economy and create jobs during an appearance in Raleigh Monday morning.

Dalton is running against Pat McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, and wasted no time in taking a shot at his Republican opponent as he rolled out his proposal.

"This is a real plan based on research and best practices," Dalton said, criticizing McCrory for a lack of specificity in his own proposals for improving the economy.

For his part, McCrory hit back by linking Dalton to incumbent Gov. Bev Perdue.

"Lt. Governor Walter Dalton cannot be trusted to fix North Carolina's broken economy because Dalton himself is a part of the problem," said McCrory campaign spokesman Ricky Diaz. "Gov. Perdue and Lt. Gov. Dalton's policies of raising taxes, increasing spending, more debt and bigger government have suffocated the private sector and hindered job creation in North Carolina during one of the worst recessions in state history."

During a news conference at the Boylan Bridge Brewpub, Dalton brushed aside prior criticisms from McCrory, saying it was the Republican who would raise sales taxes in order to lower income and business taxes. 

One of the specific issues that Dalton raised was closing loopholes that create roughly $9 billion in "tax expenditures" every year. These are tax breaks that are targeted to specific industries. 

Asked if could name one break that he would close, Dalton initially said that his proposal was for a review of all the breaks. But then he added that there was credit for purchasing long-term care insurance that doesn't seem to be working.

"The long term health care credit has not stimulated people accessing long term health care. So that has not been an effective one," Dalton said.