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Do TV Ads Work?

By Gary Pearce September 8, 2024

Josh Stein’s ads about Mark Robinson certainly worked. They worked because they defined Robinson early in the race and because they used the most devastating weapon in politics: Robinson himself on camera saying, “abortion in this country’s not about protecting the lives of mothers – it’s about killing a child because you weren’t responsible enough…

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One Word

By Carter Wrenn September 6, 2024

Sitting in a crowded restaurant listening to two friends – one calling Kamala Harris a ‘ninny,’ the other calling Trump a ‘blowhard’ – it struck me: We’ve got a rare election on our hands – issues hardly matter. What matters? Character. Words like: Ninny. Blowhard. Braggart. Fool. These days voters march in tribes: Republicans vote…

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Mark Robinson’s Slipping

By Carter Wrenn September 4, 2024

After Mark Robinson announced for governor, he led Josh Stein in polls. Then Stein pulled even. Then Robinson trailed by five. In a poll last week Robinson trailed by fourteen. Some folks say the problem’s Robinson’s stand on abortion. And, yes, that could hurt him. But when Congressman George Holding got attacked by Democrats for…

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Something You Don’t See Often

By Carter Wrenn September 2, 2024

You don’t see many people like James Lankford – getting along with both sides in a divided world he tells people ‘Your faith should affect everything you do. It’s how I treat my wife. It’s how I treat strangers. Every person’s created in the image of God. They have value and worth. As I joke…

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Beware of Darkness

By Gary Pearce September 2, 2024

August was a month of joy and hope for Democrats. But darker days lie ahead. In September and October, politics – like the weather – will grow colder, darker and meaner. Republicans will do what they always do: appeal to hate and fear. They’ll run the dark TV ads and roll out the scary mailers…

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The Brawl

By Carter Wrenn August 30, 2024

The last time delegates sitting in a convention picked a candidate for President was 48 years ago. Those days are gone – now conventions mirror Broadway productions. In Milwaukee, country singers sang, rappers danced; in Chicago, Pink sang, Oprah spoke. But back in 1976, Gerald Ford led Ronald Reagan by a handful of votes at…

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Odd

By Carter Wrenn August 28, 2024

Doing an interview on Fox Trump told Brian Kilmeade it’s a little known fact that the press doesn’t want to talk about, but Biden ‘sent comrade Kamala to see Putin in Russia three days before the attack’ on Ukraine, added Putin ‘laughed at her – he thought she was a joke.’ After the interview Ainsley…

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 Policy, Schmolicy

By Gary Pearce August 28, 2024

The media says Kamala Harris has to answer their questions about policy. No, she doesn’t. Harris has said more about policy in the last month than Trump has in nine years. She talked about policy in her economic speech in Raleigh and her acceptance speech at the Chicago convention. She spoke to every issue: cost…

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Obama Cutting his Eyes…

By Carter Wrenn August 26, 2024

Watching Obama speak last Wednesday night I had a flashback – back in 1984 when Senator Jesse Helms trailed Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points we attacked Hunt and attacked Hunt and got nowhere. Hunt ran his first TV ad: Standing in a field talking to farmers, oozing empathy, at the end of the ad…

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What You Missed

By Gary Pearce January 21, 2025

Some of my friends didn’t watch Trump’s inauguration. One went to church. One went to every…

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Women Warriors

By Gary Pearce January 19, 2025

The Democratic Party needs to get tougher, and that’s a job for Democratic women. Sydney Batch…

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Lost Truth

By Carter Wrenn January 16, 2025

Back in the old days three TV networks – ABC, NBC, CBS – ruled the news;…

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