RALEIGH, N.C. -- Attorney General Roy Cooper talks with enthusiasm about protecting children from Internet predators, fighting meth labs and suing to reduce air pollution from neighboring states.

"I wake up every morning excited and think about what I can do," said Cooper, who bypassed a Democratic run for governor to seek a third four-year term as North Carolina's top law officer. "There are so many issues to tackle."

His Republican challenger, law firm executive Bob Crumley of Asheboro, said Cooper has done some good but has been slow to respond to crime, particularly a backlog at the state crime lab that carries out DNA testing, and the spread of gang activity.

"I'd be more proactive. I would be more strategic in my thinking," Crumley said in an interview. "I would be more apt to get involved in issues earlier, and not worrying so much about the political implication of the issue."

Cooper's most recent predecessors -- Democrats Mike Easley and Lacy Thornburg -- both ran for governor after two terms. Easley won and Thornburg lost.

"We're making great progress in the fight against crime and I believe I can help this state do even more," said Cooper, 51, a former state legislator from Rocky Mount.

Cooper points to his record.

When there was a surge in clandestine methamphetamine labs, he got the General Assembly to restrict the sale of cold medicines with ingredients used to cook the illegal drug.

He sued the Tennessee Valley Authority and asked the federal government to force out-of-state polluters to meet tighter emissions standards. The cases are pending.

He worked with other attorneys general earlier this year to pressure MySpace to find ways to protect young users from sexual predators on its social networking Web site. And he forced gasoline stations to give motorists thousands of dollars in refunds for exorbitant prices this fall.

His most publicized action came in April 2007, when he threw out the remaining charges against the Duke lacrosse players who were falsely accused of raping a woman hired to perform as a stripper at a team party.

Cooper used his news conference footage in a campaign ad to highlight efforts to raise the number of DNA lab experts at the State Bureau of Investigation from five in 2001 to 42 today.

Testers analyzed DNA evidence found on the accuser and determined that it did not match any of the Duke players.

"We want to remind the public how important DNA is for doing justice in North Carolina," Cooper said.

Crumley said the Duke case had already fallen apart when Cooper got involved.

And Crumley said legal officials tell him it still takes several months for crime lab evidence to be analyzed and returned to law enforcement.

Cooper was in office two years when the public learned that thousands of rape evidence kits collected by local law enforcement had never been processed.

Cooper said that backlog has been eliminated thanks to the extra analysts, but Crumley argues that delays could have been resolved years earlier if Cooper had used a 1937 law allowing other state agencies and universities to process evidence, with the governor's permission. But that would have cast Easley, Cooper's predecessor and a fellow Democrat, in a bad light, Crumley argues.

While some rape kits were processed by private labs, Cooper said there was no need for help from other agencies and he didn't know whether college laboratories were capable of this kind of work.

"Most everyone will tell you that significant progress has been made," Cooper said.

Crumley also said Cooper has been slow to address growing problems with gangs. He said Cooper should have known there would be a spike in gang activity after 2000 Census figures showed a nearly 400 percent increase in the Hispanic population compared to 10 years ago.

Throughout history, Crumley said, large migrations have generated gangs because there will be "some bad people who will try to prey on the folks who are not yet inculcated into society."

Legislation to toughen penalties for gang activity passed last summer.

Cooper said his office has been training local law enforcement to combat gang activity for years: "We're out in front of the problem. He's just flat wrong."

Crumley, 51, has been involved in GOP campaigns since the 1970s and ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2002. His Crumley and Associates law firm has 13 offices in the Carolinas, focusing on auto accidents, Social Security and workers' compensation cases.

He has aired 15-second campaign ads that direct viewers to a Web site where Crumley appears in what look like television news segments. Crumley said the competitive presidential election in North Carolina and the economic downturn has made it hard to get attention.

"We tried to be inventive. We tried to be creative," he said.