Perdue announced last week that she had decided to ditch the negative attack ads aimed at State Treasurer Richard Moore, her rival for the Democratic nomination for governor. Instead, she would focus on issues and selling herself to voters, a sort of campaign version of “Keep on the Sunny Side.”

She’s also airing a new television spot to let voters know of her Damascus Road conversion. “Win or lose, it’s the right thing for me and the people of North Carolina,” she says in the ad.

Perdue told reporters last week that supporters, family members and voters have indicated their displeasure regarding the blistering ads that have gone back and forth between the two Democrats since Easter weekend. Moore has been using the airwaves to beat on Perdue using her record in the Senate and some questionable campaign fund-raising back in the 1990s. Her support of college-tuition increases and a criminal investigation of a top Democratic donor have been among the targets.

Perdue responded with her own attack ads. She’s been trying to paint Moore as removed from the average concerns of average voters, using television ads to label him the candidate of Wall Street. His reliance on New York and Boston investment bankers for his campaign war chest has made him an easy mark on that account.

Now, Moore will apparently go it alone on the negative-attack front. His campaign managers indicate that they have no plans for any strategy change.

“We plan to run truthful ads,” deputy campaign manager Julie White said in an e-mailed statement. “We believe that Perdue’s history of pushing tuition increases, cutting taxes for the wealthy, etc., are very relevant to the debate over who will be the best governor.”

But here’s why Perdue’s shift away from the negative isn’t such a huge gamble: With the primary a couple of weeks away, she still maintains the big advantages in the race.

Key party insiders and core Democratic constituencies back Perdue; the Barack Obama factor, with its potential to create record turnout among black voters, should only further Perdue’s advantages; Moore can’t step into a phone booth and suddenly transform himself into something other than a privileged, wealthy white male. (Wearing cheaper suits, though, might help.)

Had Perdue not been the frontrunner, the move would have been a much bigger risk. In fact, she’s getting a bit of a publicity bump from the decision. Some voters will be impressed.

Also, if she wins the Democratic nomination, she better positions herself for the fall. She can now truthfully tell any Moore supporters who might be prone to hold a grudge that she called a truce in the intra-party war. And maybe she’ll even spark some kind of political movement.

A big boost in the polls, following the decision, would sure the get the attention of other candidates and their political consultants.