Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
How bad are the new Republican legislative maps? An analysis by the Campaign Legal Center says Republicans would give themselves a “large and durable” advantage in the districts” “Assuming a statewide uniform swing in the vote, in order for there to be a Republican majority in the House, Republicans will only need a statewide vote…
When winds howl and waters rise, political careers can soar – or sink. And elections can turn upside down. The fall of George W. Bush began the day in 2005 when he flew over Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, looking distant and detached. He never recovered. Nor did New Orleans. On the other hand, even a scoundrel…
The one thing you prayed for and lusted after in a political campaign in the old days was to catch your opponent in a lie – because a lie (caught on videotape) was as close to sure death as there was in politics. Back in 1984 I thought we had a pretty good chance of…
My post Clicking The N&O got as many likes, clicks and comments as anything lately. As I understand today’s journalism, that means do another post on it. Here we go. One TAP reader was struck by John Drescher’s explanation of Barry Saunders’ departure. John wrote: “We’ve let go of some features that had a limited…
So much is happening so fast. So let’s fire away at several juicy targets – er, topics. Trumped Just when you think he can’t get worse, he does. His 77-minute tirade in Phoenix was True Trump. The estimable Economist pegged him for who and what he is: “politically inept, morally barren and temperamentally unfit for…
A plump boy wearing a hand-made Confederate soldier’s uniform stood by himself alone at the foot of a statue of General Lee, standing straight at attention like a guard – surrounded by protestors waving their fists, index fingers raised, in his face. Immobile, expressionless, without making a sound, his lip quivered and leaning towards him…
Bob Havely, who died August 9 at age 65, was a Jim Hunt alumnus, a multi-faceted political and public affairs consultant, and a good friend to many of us. Bob was the rare player who could hit from both sides of the plate: He could do both policy and politics. He was issues director for…
The General Assembly is redrawing State House and Senate Districts and it’s like the circus came back in town: Six years ago, last time they drew districts, Republican legislators used ‘race’ as one criteria and Democrats sued them. This time Republican legislators said they wouldn’t even look at or go near ‘race’ and the Democrats…
In these Trumped-up times, we need good journalism more than ever. Which is why readers of The News & Observer paid careful attention to the recent column by Executive Editor John Drescher on changes there. What he wrote told us three things: • How much journalism and The N&O are changing, • How much readers…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…