Merritt is a Republican. And as state auditor, he sits in a powerful position.

The auditor and his subordinates look into the finances of state agencies, determining when waste, malfeasance or outright fraud has occurred. In the case of potential fraud, the office can refer its findings to criminal prosecutors.

Given that power, and that most state agencies in North Carolina are controlled by Democrats, Merritt occasionally draws a little fire from the folks of the opposing party.

But it’s not all about power. Some prominent Democrats question whether Merritt is in a bit over his head, even if, as an accountant, he has a pretty good handle on the number-crunching aspects of the job.

At any rate, after four years out of the office, Democrats would like to take back the post — even if Merritt hasn’t done anything to drastically embarrass them during nearly four years in the job.

Two Democrats are vying for the right to challenge him in this year’s Democratic primary.

Like Merritt, Beth Wood is a certified public accountant. She worked in the auditor’s shop for more than a decade, mainly under Merritt’s predecessor, Democrat Ralph Campbell.

Fred Aikens is an experienced state agency official, having served stints as deputy secretary at the Department of Transportation and at the Department of Correction. He’s also been a colonel in the North Carolina National Guard, serving in Iraq and Kuwait in 2003.

Wood is emphasizing her experience in the auditor’s office in her bid for the job. She’s already contrasting herself with Merritt, trying to turn his private consulting — which critics raised as a potential conflict — into a campaign issue.

Her one-time boss, Campbell, is also backing her.

Aikens is emphasizing his experience in state government too, even if it is largely outside the accounting and auditing world. He has promised to conduct more performance audits to root out waste in state government. He also wants to develop some real-time monitoring of state spending to try to recognize when programs have become wasteful and inefficient.

Aikens will have to overcome his connections to one of the bigger scandals in state government in the 1990s — the $100,000 settlement to former Division of Motor Vehicles employee Algie Toomer. Aikens’ subordinate, DMV Commissioner Alexander Killens, was forced to resign following an audit showing that he had used staff members, including Toomer, as personal drivers and security guards.

Aikens was accused in an SBI report of blocking an internal investigation of Toomer, an allegation that he subsequently denied.

For both Aikens and Wood, this is a first stab at elected office.

Whoever wins won’t find it easy to take out an incumbent, no matter how many Democratic powerbrokers chafe at having a Republican in the office.