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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Fake compromise

By Gary Pearce February 27, 2017

Governor Cooper is right. The HB2 “compromise” is no compromise. It would make a bad deal even worse. The referendum provision sounds good. What’s wrong with letting people vote? Plenty. First is a matter of policy and principle. As the Governor said, we shouldn’t put minority rights up to a majority vote. That’s like putting…

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Deep Throats

By Gary Pearce February 23, 2017

A high-ranking FBI official (Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat) and The Washington Post took down Richard Nixon’s presidency. FBI Director James Comey and the media echo chamber took down Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Now Trump compares American intelligence services with Nazis and declares that the media is the enemy. Where does this lead? A TAPster passes…

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Mark Sanford takes on Trump

By Gary Pearce February 22, 2017

You know things are bad when Mark Sanford is the voice of reason. Yes, that Mark Sanford. The congressman from South Carolina. The ex-Governor who gave new meaning to “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” Sanford is back on stage as one of few Republicans unafraid to criticize Trump. He speaks out in a fascinating Politico article…

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Secession? Hmm…

By Gary Pearce February 22, 2017

Given how things are going with Trump, maybe we shouldn’t dismiss this secession idea too hastily. Let Roy Cooper and Josh Stein steer the ship of state.  

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Waiting for the Blessed Silence

By Carter Wrenn February 22, 2017

Phil Berger set out to fix not one mistake but a whole row of mistakes compounded over nearly a year since the day the Charlotte City Council decided to allow gay men to use women’s restrooms; at first, it had looked like Charlotte’s ordinance would be an easy bit of wickedness to cure: After all,…

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Poll-axed

By Gary Pearce February 21, 2017

A good poll can guide you safely through the political jungle. A bad one can lead you into a death trap. Witness Pat McCrory. Jim Morrill reported in The Charlotte Observer (“A day before McCrory signed HB2, he got a poll that showed it would be popular”) that: “Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed House…

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Three Americas

By Gary Pearce February 20, 2017

One group of Americans watches Trump on TV, and they see their worst fears come to pass. They see a vain, boastful, arrogant, uninformed con man. They see an administration marked by chaos, cruelty, incompetence, hostility to fundamental constitutional rights and a troubling penchant for making unnecessary enemies and strange friends abroad. Another group of…

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Two Worlds

By Carter Wrenn February 20, 2017

Wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap a young man, a supporter of Donald Trump’s, roared, Keep ‘em out – while at a rally miles away a young woman, an anti-Trump protestor, tossing her head, joined the other protestors in chanting, ‘Let ‘em in.’ And unless you watched both Fox News and CNN the two…

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Walking Into Traps

By Carter Wrenn February 17, 2017

In chambers filled with polished wood and men in robes speaking in measured cadences, leaning over thick briefs, laboring in pursuit of not perfect justice but, at least, to see enough truth to reach a verdict, three judges stopped pursuing thieves and rapists and swindlers to hold a hearing to decide the Democratic Governor’s lawsuit…

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Stein’s Party Lines

By Gary Pearce January 14, 2025

Governor Josh Stein wisely ignored my semi-serious suggestion that he devote his inaugural speech to denouncing…

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Disaster Duty

By Gary Pearce January 12, 2025

Climate change has changed governors’ jobs. They now must be masters of disasters: floods, fires, hurricanes…

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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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