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Over Answering, Indeed!

By Carter Wrenn February 1, 2007

It may be a coincidence and not the vaunted Clinton PR machine at work, but since Hillary announced there have been two attacks on John Edwards (see Gary’s post below: The Orange County White House.) and one on Barack Obama in the media. The attack on Edwards went like this: How can he build a…

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The Words of Jim Webb

By Gary Pearce February 1, 2007

The most eloquent – and effective – Democratic spokesman today may be a former Marine and Reagan Cabinet member: Jim Webb. If you missed the Virginia Senator’s response to Bush’s State of the Union speech, you can see it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVXMU43Qhow Webb eviscerated Bush on Iraq and the economy. He hit the perfect tone…

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The Curious Affair of the House Historian

By Carter Wrenn February 1, 2007

It seemed peculiar: After former Speaker Jim Black had the State House pay one of his political appointees $80,000 to write a ‘history’ of the State House, he refused to make it public. Compared to the other House scandals – Lottery Commissioner Kevin Geddings’ trial, allegations of bribes, illegal lobbying – the ‘curious affair of…

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The YouTube Campaign

By Gary Pearce January 31, 2007

The 2004 election demonstrated the power of the Internet. It’s now the YouTube campaign. The first victim was former Senator George Allen of Virginia. Here’s a hit on John McCain that’s now circulating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI By the way, thanks to my son James for the link. At 17, he’s my link to YouTube politics. Click Here…

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The Orange County White House

By Gary Pearce January 31, 2007

Re John and Elizabeth Edwards’ new home: The only thing they’re guilty of is over-answering. In situations like this, the less said, the better. Remember the first rule of getting out of a hole: Put down the shovel. It’s his money, he earned it and he can spend it like he wants. Click Here to…

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Spending Like a Drunken Sailor

By Carter Wrenn January 30, 2007

Looking out the window as he gave his state of the city address, Mayor Meeker noted the four cranes hovering over his $221 million convention center, his $20 million downtown hotel and his $40 million underground parking lot. (News and Observer; 1-23-07). Then the Mayor proposed building a 28 mile adventure trail along the banks…

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Bush and Webb

By Carter Wrenn January 30, 2007

In his State of the Union Speech, President Bush laid out his vision of the war on terrorism, saying Islamic Radicalism is an ideology – much like Communism and Nazism were ideologies in their times, opposing everything we stand for and determined to destroy us. Democratic Senator Jim Webb, in his rebuttal, did not differ…

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New Threat to the Schools

By Gary Pearce January 30, 2007

The right-wing, anti-school crowd lost in November when the Wake County school bonds won, but they’re taking aim again. One of our readers emailed: “Looks to me like the County Commissioners are trying to take over the school board – a Billion dollar school bond with 4 school board seats on the same ballot.” Bingo,…

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A Weak Start for Strong Mayor Proposal

By Gary Pearce January 29, 2007

I consider myself an expert on strengthening executive offices, though some cynics might call it power-grabbing. I learned from the master: working with Governor Hunt when he passed succession in 1977 (before that, Governors could serve only one term) and veto in 1996. So maybe Raleigh needs a stronger mayor. But Charles Meeker’s campaign for…

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Biden

By Gary Pearce November 29, 2024

Joe Biden has been a good President, but missed being great because he wasn’t a great…

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It’s Easy to Point the Finger…

By Carter Wrenn November 29, 2024

Turning on the TV, watching the first debate in the 2016 Iowa primary, I stared at…

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Published stories from my memoir in The Assembly

By Carter Wrenn November 27, 2024

John Bolton: “Reagan lost the first five primaries to Gerald Ford in 1976 – then upset…

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