Carter is a Republican. Gary is a Democrat.

They met in 1984, during the epic U.S. Senate battle between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Carter worked for Helms and Gary, for Hunt.

Years later, they became friends. They even worked together on some nonpolitical clients.

They enjoy talking about politics. So they started this blog in 2005.

They’re still talking. And they invite you to join the conversation.

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Carter Wrenn

Gary Pearce 2024

Gary Pearce

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No Quit

By Gary Pearce July 18, 2024

Years of political battles taught me this: You ain’t beat ‘til you quit. There’s too much quit in the Democratic Party right now. Yes, President Biden’s poll numbers are perilous, and pressures on him to quit are enormous. Still, I’m not convinced that Vice President Kamala Harris would be a stronger candidate, even if she…

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Let’s Hope…

By Carter Wrenn July 17, 2024

Climbing out on a limb George Clooney told Biden not to run – Trump slammed Clooney as a ‘disloyal, backstabber, third-rate movie actor’ – added, ‘He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are.’ On one side of the table this election we’ve had an old man who, memory slipping at the NATO…

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Idols

By Carter Wrenn July 16, 2024

The first time Ronald Reagan ran for president a lot of Democrats voted for him. Those ‘ticket-splitters’ respected their political party but a candidate’s honesty, character, beliefs mattered more to them than his party. Governor Jim Hunt ran for reelection the same year Reagan won and a lot of those same ticket-splitters voted for Hunt…

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AR-15s and Project 2025

By Gary Pearce July 16, 2024

For years, MAGA Republicans have fetishized AR-15s, the weapon Trump’s assailant used. They wear AR-15 lapel pins and pose brandishing the high-powered assault rifles. Now, in an Olympic-worthy feat of mental gymnastics, Trump’s acolytes claim that the AR-15 attack makes Trump and Project 2025 off-limits to campaign criticism. Get real. After Paul Pelosi was brutally…

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Jefferson, MLK, the Bible

By Carter Wrenn July 15, 2024

A brawl’s going on in Oklahoma. About teaching the Bible in schools. A preacher’s son Ryan Walters grew up in a small town, after college taught at a local high school; whisps of whiskers covering his cheeks, at 39 ran for Oklahoma School Superintendent – won. Sounding like a teacher said schools needed to teach…

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The Thom Tillis Twist

By Gary Pearce July 15, 2024

Senator Thom Tillis twisted himself into contortions with this tweet last week: “Huge news for Wilmington, the Department of Transportation will be awarding $242 million to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge! I was proud to advocate for the project to @SecretaryPete on behalf of North Carolina and co-author and help get the bipartisan infrastructure…

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“Say a prayer for our country”

By Gary Pearce July 14, 2024

The night Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, April 4, 1968, Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy spoke to an audience in a Black neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is part of what he said: “In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask…

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Media Mania

By Gary Pearce July 12, 2024

The political media’s feeding frenzy over President Biden is an extraordinary development in this campaign. Their arrogance will be studied and scrutinized in political, journalistic and academic circles for years. Washington reporters and commentators seem genuinely angry – even personally insulted – that Biden hasn’t acceded to their judgment, or demand, that he exit the…

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Mirrors

By Carter Wrenn July 12, 2024

Are Trump and Biden a pair of giants shaping what Americans see, think, believe? Or are Trump and Biden simply mirrors, reflections of what Americans believe? Not long ago if a politician got caught telling a lie he went down in flames. Lies were taboo. Did Trump convince people lies don’t matter? Or is Trump…

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Recessional

By Carter Wrenn November 11, 2024

The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient…

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Mistakes and Miss-Takes

By Gary Pearce November 10, 2024

Bert Bennett of Winston-Salem, the legendary political godfather to Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, had a…

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Don’t Give Up

By Gary Pearce November 6, 2024

This is bad. Bad for America and for the world. Bad for women, for immigrants, for…

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