You could almost hear Pat McCrory exhaling his relief Thursday when he learned that Erskine Bowles would not run for governor. McCrory has yo-yo'd in the last week from being the prohibitive favorite over Gov. Bev Perdue, to facing a possible death match against Bowles, to being the big favorite again over any of the Democrats in the race or considering it.

After thinking about it for the week since Perdue announced she would not run again, Bowles announced Thursday that he would not run in the Democratic primary. That was a shame, we thought, because Bowles would have brought to the race one of the most impressive resumes in recent history: Successful businessman, head of the Small Business Administration, White House Chief of Staff, president of the UNC system and co-chair of the national deficit commission. And while he's not a born campaigner, he has money and the ability to raise it in a hurry.

So his departure was a gift to McCrory, whom we endorsed in 2008 and who is the presumptive Republican nominee. McCrory is back in control of the race, leading in the polls over every potential Democratic challenger.

The only two Democrats who have announced they're running - Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and state Rep. Bill Faison - rank near the bottom of the list for favorability ratings among 13 Democrats measured by Public Policy Polling in Raleigh. And in a head-to-head matchup with McCrory, Dalton trails by 15 percentage points and Faison trails by 19. Those numbers would probably tighten up a bit once their name recognition goes up during a campaign, but they clearly start as big underdogs.

There aren't big threats sitting on the Democratic sidelines either. Former state Treasurer Richard Moore, former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, state Sen. Dan Blue, and U.S. Reps. Brad Miller and Mike McIntyre all trail badly in early polling.

One other big advantage for McCrory: About $2 million in the bank, far more than any prospective challenger.

Anything can change in a long campaign, but Democrats may have to sling mud and tie McCrory to an unpopular Republican legislature to have much chance.