Hate campaign ads? Now you can’t even Google safely. With the 2008 elections already heating up in North Carolina, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor have started paying for ads on the popular Internet search engine. The ads are short and unobtrusive, but they’re also dirt cheap compared with television or radio ads. They show up when you search for key terms on Google or read Web sites that have signed up for Google’s AdSense program.

Search for Democratic gubernatorial candidate “Beverly Perdue” on Google, and you’ll see ads from five sponsors: Her campaign; her Democratic rival, Richard Moore; the state Democratic Party; Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Pat Smathers and a conservative think tank pushing its poll results. The ads are as terse as a classified ad with a link to the sponsor’s Web site: “Richard Moore 4 Governor,” reads one. “Fixing North Carolina’s problems with fresh ideas.

www.RichardMoore.org” Moore’s campaign has been running the ads for several months, said campaign manager Jay Reiff. He said they are more common in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania, which have lots of political blogs and online campaigning. “North Carolina is a little behind other parts of the country,” he said.

Moore has also run more ads under search terms such as “Mike Easley” and “nc governor,” as well as “subprime mortgages,” and “north carolina climate change” — two issues he has been outspoken on as state treasurer. Google ads have even gone negative. Several weeks ago, Perdue’s campaign joined the fray with its own ads touting her Web site. They also started running a Google ad linking to a Perdue-sponsored site attacking Moore.