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Winning message wars

By Gary Pearce January 10, 2019

Two communications innovations propelled Trump to the Presidency: reality TV and Twitter. Now three Democrats – wildly different in age and style – are pioneering the next wave. • Nancy Pelosi, 78, is the star of the Shutdown Showdown. She’s tough, stylish and sharp. She’s turned the West Wing press scrum into performance art. She…

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Tear down this wall

By Gary Pearce January 7, 2019

Trump may never get his wall with Mexico, but he’s built a hell of a wall between Americans. It has bitterly divided Democrats and Republicans in Washington, it has shut down government, and it divides the American people. And it’s not even a real issue. It’s an imaginary solution to an imaginary problem. Even if…

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A Disguise

By Carter Wrenn January 3, 2019

Governor Cooper explained in the newspaper he vetoed a bill because “Municipal charter schools set a dangerous precedent that could lead to taxpayer funded re-segregation.” The way the bill’s opponents see it the suburbs where the schools would be built are white (or ‘whiter’) than the rest of the schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District,…

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It Doesn’t Add Up

By Carter Wrenn January 2, 2019

Almost every politician in Washington supported the Criminal Justice Reform Bill – so what are the odds all those politicians, this time, got it right? According to the newspaper 53,000 prisoners, almost a third of the inmates in federal prisons, are going to be released – which means we’re going to be closing prisons. But,…

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Clichés

By Carter Wrenn December 31, 2018

At a press conference following a basketball game not long after President Bush died a reporter asked Coach Mike Krzyzewski how he’d come to know Bush and Krzyzewski explained that, years ago, after President George H. W. Bush’s 3-year-old daughter died of leukemia, Bush had set up a Cancer Foundation – and that’s how he…

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Zig-Zagging

By Carter Wrenn December 28, 2018

First, President Trump told Pelosi and Schumer that he’d be proud to take the blame for a shutdown; then, a day later, Trump said he didn’t want a shutdown; next, zigging, Trump said it was going to be a long shutdown; then, zagging, he said he didn’t want a long shutdown. At a glance President…

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Bladen County

By Carter Wrenn December 27, 2018

Mark Harris won one of those rare victories you hardly ever see in politics – he upset an incumbent Congressman in a primary. After that Harris went straight on to win the General Election by 905 votes but then ran head on into a buzzsaw: When the day came to declare him the new Congressman…

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Winning the news war

By Gary Pearce December 26, 2018

Trump is both creature and creator of today’s hyper-speed, Twitter-hype news cycle. To win in 2020, Democrats need a candidate who beats him at the communications game. The New York Times reports: “By all accounts, Mr. Trump’s consumption of cable television has actually increased in recent months as his first scheduled meetings of the day…

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Rob Christensen Retires

By Gary Pearce December 20, 2018

With Rob Christensen’s retirement, we lose North Carolina’s most experienced, knowledgeable and insightful political reporter. There were, still are and always will be other great political reporters in North Carolina. But nobody stayed on the job for 45 years. Nobody had Rob’s wealth of history and sources. Nobody worked harder, worked sources harder, listened longer…

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The Past, Never Past, Just Keeps Repeating Itself

By Carter Wrenn January 10, 2025

The Past, Never Past, Just Keeps Repeating Itself Off and running, campaign racing down the road,…

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Devil’s Whispers

By Carter Wrenn January 9, 2025

One voice roared the man who killed fourteen people in New Orleans was angry because he…

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Burying Dignity

By Gary Pearce January 9, 2025

America inters a decent, honest President and inaugurates a dishonest, indecent President. Jimmy Carter called on…

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