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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Over a Barrel

By Carter Wrenn October 5, 2016

Somehow the New York Times laid its hands on Donald Trump’s tax returns from 1995,  which showed Trump had claimed $916 million in losses – losses so large, according to the Times, Donald Trump may not have paid a penny of federal income taxes for 18 years. It would be hard to find a newspaper…

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Pat’s Cat 5 Storm

By Gary Pearce October 5, 2016

Regardless of what Hurricane Matthew does, Pat McCrory is struggling against high headwinds and a vicious riptide. That forecast track is clear in WRAL’s SurveyUSA poll (which has nothing to do with Greg Fishel). It’s not just that Roy Cooper leads McCrory 48-44. It’s that all the winds are blowing Cooper’s way. Half (51 percent)…

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Your Cheating Heart (Will Tell on You)

By Carter Wrenn October 4, 2016

Gripping the lectern Trump whacked Hillary for Bill’s running around then, after his speech, the press asked Trump about his running around (with Marla Maples) when he was married to Ivana. Trump shot back, ‘I don’t talk about that.’ Today the meltdown got worse.  

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Come again?

By Gary Pearce October 4, 2016

What’s up with Pat McCrory’s ad strategy? Under the Dome reported that he has a new ad “boasting of North Carolina’s economic gains.” In it, McCrory says: “When I entered office North Carolina had record unemployment, high taxes and huge budget shortfalls; it had been that way for years. Now, we have one of the…

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The Meltdown

By Carter Wrenn October 3, 2016

Whether he woke up or whether he was lying in bed eyes wide open at 5:19 in the morning Donald Trump reached for his phone, tweeted out the ‘disgusting (check out sex tape) Alicia Machado,’ pressed send, and all hell broke loose. All because Hillary Clinton had said that he’d said Machado, a beauty pageant…

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News shrinkage

By Gary Pearce October 3, 2016

The N&O is again shrinking its print edition, just as it is again shedding news and editorial staff. Of more concern: the N&O’s role as the go-to source of political news in North Carolina is shrinking. As I recall from this morning’s paper, there will be only two sections a couple of days a week.…

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Will Trump melt down?

By Gary Pearce October 1, 2016

We want our President to be ready for the 3 am phone call. Donald Trump is already up at 3 am, firing off vicious, venomous tweets. Attacking a beauty pageant winner, of all things.  Which raises the prospect that in one of the debates he could become the first presidential candidate to have a total…

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Verbs for Hillary

By Gary Pearce September 29, 2016

Quick. Somebody get Hillary Clinton a verb. A whole bunch of them.  She needs them to reach swing voters – millennials and Trump-averse Independents and Republicans. They don’t know what she wants to DO as President, so they suspect she just wants to BE President.    Verbs connote action, movement and progress. No verbs =…

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Phil Berger and the Professors

By Carter Wrenn September 28, 2016

It’s hard to find a more bull-headed fellow walking the earth than a UNC professor dead-set on upholding the virtues of political correctness: He’s 100% for diversity and 100% against discrimination right up to the moment someone disagrees with him. The other day the UNC Faculty Council gave the legislature and Senator Phil Berger down…

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The View from Iceland

By Gary Pearce November 18, 2024

If you seek political asylum the next four years, try Iceland. We went there last week…

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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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