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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A Novel Kind of Diplomacy

By Carter Wrenn June 2, 2017

The President rapped the Germans, Angela Merkel rapped back, and the President unsheathed a new type of diplomacy – he tweeted. NATO’s the key to the West’s alliance against Russia, and Germany – after the United States – is the biggest nation in NATO and the President’s having a twitter spat with the Germans. It’s…

Why the polls were wrong

By Gary Pearce June 2, 2017

Nate Cohn of The New York Times Upshot column has an eye-opening analysis of why so many state-level polls were wrong about Trump and Clinton last year. More on that later. But bad polls aren’t to blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss. Because her campaign didn’t do polls. That’s the most shattering revelation in a new…

Since Jim Hunt

By Carter Wrenn June 1, 2017

Democrats don’t have a more determined foe than the Civitas Institute, so when Civitas’ May poll reported good news for Roy Cooper it was a bad sign. According to Civitas’ poll 61% of the voters in North Carolina now approve of the job Roy Cooper is doing as Governor. Among all voters Cooper’s job approval…

A Story We May See Again

By Carter Wrenn May 31, 2017

There’ve been two special elections for Congress and two more are on the way: Last fall, Trump won three of those districts easily but won one — in Georgia — by just two points. The Georgia district is Republican (31%); Democrat (27%); Independent (41%). That’s a four point Republican advantage. But a poll last week…

JFK at 100

By Gary Pearce May 30, 2017

There are many John F. Kennedys to consider. There’s the Camelot myth, and there’s the real man. There’s the assassinated hero, and there’s the real President. There’s the President who managed a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis, a triumph of strength and restraint. And there’s the President who gave us the Bay of…

The Plague Spreads

By Carter Wrenn May 30, 2017

Conor pulled out a chair, sat down by Spencer, straightened his tie, and Judge Bryne, sitting across the table, grunted, ‘You’re a walking plague.’ ‘Could you put a little meat on that bone?’  ‘You look at a politician and see a teenage boy and now Spencer’s doing it too.’ ‘Which politician?’ A federal investigator had…

Plagues

By Carter Wrenn May 25, 2017

‘You said to watch that documentary – with all that ranting about ‘real nut jobs’ and ‘stone cold losers’ those two guys remind me of a pair of teenage boys.’ Judge Bryne grunted. ‘You mean Roger Stone and Donald Trump?’ The waitress served three breakfast plates. Conor glanced around the table. ‘That show addled my…

Watergate at warp speed

By Gary Pearce May 25, 2017

Hand it to Trump. He moves fast. As big a crook as Richard Nixon was, it took him four years to get caught. Trump did it in three months. It took two years for Nixon to resign. What might happen with Trump? Some smart people think he might quit. That he’s thinking: “Running was fun.…

The Greening of Trump

By Gary Pearce May 24, 2017

Harrison Hickman, my genius pollster friend, told me a simple fact about the 2016 presidential election that I had not seen anywhere. The votes that Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, got in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were enough to swing the election from Hillary Clinton. And make Trump President. Here are the numbers.            …

Independents Turn Against GOP

By Gary Pearce March 17, 2026

North Carolina voters don’t like either the Democratic or Republican parties. But Independent voters – who…

Getting the News

By Gary Pearce March 13, 2026

How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…

MAGA-gator

By Gary Pearce March 12, 2026

Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…