Posts by Gary Pearce
Eight days a week
Take a deep breath. It will be over in eight days. And it will be a long week. It’s fitting that the longest, meanest and ugliest election in history comes on the latest date possible, November 8. Just to prolong our agony. Now the future of the republic rests with the fickle five percent or so…
Read MoreI hate yard signs
Most any political pro worth his or her salt will agree: Nothing in a campaign consumes more time, energy and discussion – to less avail – than yard signs. Candidates obsess about them. So do their families. And their strongest supporters. But no voter in the history of our democracy has ever seen a sign…
Read MoreSic transit gloria mundi
That’s Latin for “Thus passes the glory of the world” – or, “Worldly things are fleeting.” But they’re not fleeting on roads and highways around the Triangle. There are just too many damn cars on the road. So Wake County is voting on a 10-year Wake Transit Plan that will: Triple bus service Start a…
Read MoreAdventures on CSPAN
You meet the most interesting people on CSPAN call-in shows. I did a 45-minute turn on Monday’s Washington Journal. We had callers from California, West Virginia, Oklahoma and exotic locales like Cary, Chapel Hill and Monroe. Now, I’m used to media interviews. The questions are usually about ads, polls, strategy and predictions. Not here. The…
Read MoreHillary’s finest hour(s)
Donald Trump’s worst brought out Hillary Clinton’s best. The finest moments in her entire political life came in the last debate when, clad in white like an avenging angel, she slew the Donald dragon for his sexism, stood up unapologetically for all women and schooled us men about the right and wrong way to behave…
Read MoreJFK and me
Teresa Leonard’s Past Times feature in the N&O today took me back to a night in 1960 when, as an 11-year-old, I shook John F. Kennedy’s hand. The N&O reported on September 18, 1960: “A swarm of wet, cheering citizens almost mobbed Jack Kennedy in their enthusiasm as he entered Raleigh Saturday. “It happened at…
Read MoreTalking About Politics on CSPAN
Monday morning, I have the honor of being on CSPAN’s Washington Journal call-in show from 9:15-10. Please call in and ask me something easy. The host, Pedro Echevarria, wrote: “While we focus on the top-of-the-ticket race between Clinton and Trump, we also would want to focus on NC’s Senate race and topics such as voting…
Read MoreThe Happiest Warrior
As this sad, dispiriting campaign winds down, one man looks like he’s having fun: President Obama. You see it when he speaks at rallies, when he chides Trump for “whining” and when he pokes fun at himself in interviews. So here are the imagined ruminations of the President during one of those late nights at…
Read MoreSuch a nasty man
Donald Trump soundly defeated Donald Trump last night. For a while at the start, Republicans had reason to hope he would arrest the free fall. Then Trump slipped out of his handlers’ leash. Or the drugs wore off. And again we saw the real Donald Trump. The headline, of course, is that he is the…
Read MoreWhy isn’t she winning by 50 points?
As Donald Trump continues to escape Earth orbit, Hillary Clinton’s election appears increasingly likely. Yet…why do we still fear that Trump will turn into an asteroid, slam into us on Election Day and pulverize life as we know it? Let’s look at two exhibits. In a perceptive analysis, Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote…
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