Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is dipping his toes into the national policy debate over health care.

Pat McCrory

McCrory, who lost a hotly contested 2008 governor’s race to Bev Perdue, is joining conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity on a “Patients First Tour” July 21 and 22 “to discuss the harmful government-centered health care reform proposals in Congress and to demand free-market solutions.” AFP has been tied to the anti-tax tea party movement and is vehemently opposed to the federal stimulus spending and Democrats’ carbon cap-and-trade legislation.

This is noteworthy because the mayor is a potential congressional candidate and anything that looks like a testing-the-waters exercise attracts attention.  

McCrory’s name has been floated as a prospective candidate to take on freshman 8th District Rep. Larry Kissell . The traditionally Republican-leaning district backed President Obama 52 percent in to 47 percent for Republican nominee John McCain in 2008, but Republicans believe that without the Obama-generated Democratic turnout, Kissell is vulnerable in 2010.