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 Temptation He Can’t Resist

By Carter Wrenn May 5, 2017

“I was all set to terminate. I looked forward to terminating. I was going to do it,” Trump told the reporter. But he didn’t terminate so, in the next breath, he was telling the reporter, “I get a call from Mexico yesterday, ‘We hear you’re going to terminate NAFTA.’ I said that’s right. They said,…

The Pond-Skater

By Carter Wrenn May 3, 2017

David Brooks, the columnist, felt a sea-change. Last fall, before the election, liberals saw Donald Trump as a buffoon who couldn’t possibly win the election then, on Election Night, right in front of their eyes, the clown turned into a dragon. After the election – as the dragon headed for Washington – the shaken liberals…

No Quit in Him

By Carter Wrenn May 2, 2017

To show strength, he said he’d ordered an aircraft carrier to sail straight north to North Korea – then the Pentagon released a photograph of the carrier sailing straight south away from Korea. He pounds the Washington Politicians but, despite his threats, his wall’s stuck in Congress, his immigration plan’s stuck in the courts, and…

No One Minds

By Carter Wrenn April 28, 2017

Last year Trump tore into NAFTA.  And said China was a no-good currency manipulator, NATO was obsolete, Obama’s Iran Agreement was the ‘worst deal ever,’ and Obama’s Paris Climate Change Agreement was a ‘hoax.’ And he said he was going to fix them all and ‘Make America Great’ – and the crowds at his rallies…

Beer, Politics, a Quick Death

By Carter Wrenn April 27, 2017

Years ago, around the time of Prohibition, the politicians in Raleigh passed a law that said, A brewer can’t deliver his own beer. And with that one law the politicians created a new industry which blossomed: The Beer Wholesalers (or Beer Distributors). Eighty-odd years passed and that old law, still on the books, put hand-cuffs…

A Death Ray?

By Carter Wrenn April 26, 2017

I’d love to know why that North Korean missile blew up. Was it North Korean bungling? Or did the Pentagon zap it with some super-secret electro-magnetic death-ray? I like to believe it was a death-ray – because then saving ourselves from Kim Jong-un would be as simple as pushing a button. However, just before that…

Hardly a Soul Blinked

By Carter Wrenn April 25, 2017

After the Congressional Special Election down in Georgia, President Trump exclaimed, Great victory. (He meant for Trump.) At the same time the Democrats were saying the same thing: They said they’d won a great victory. And defeated Trump. Somebody wasn’t telling the truth. And Sean Trende, of Real Clear Politics, put his finger on who:…

Four years on

By Gary Pearce April 25, 2017

Four years ago this week, an extraordinary young woman I had come to know was brutally murdered. Stabbed to death in her own home. By a man she and her husband had befriended and helped. Four years on, I still struggle with the monstrous evil here. We know that human beings do cruel, senseless, horrible…

Sellout or Step Forward?

By Gary Pearce April 24, 2017

Governor Cooper’s office calls the HB2 repeal “an important step forward for LGBT rights” even though it “wasn’t a perfect compromise or the Governor’s preferred solution.” LGBT leaders call it a “sellout” and an “insult.” This is the oldest debate in politics. Not liberal/conservative. Or Democrat/Republican. But “compromise” versus “all or nothing.” The Governor had…

Political Shots Fired

By Gary Pearce April 28, 2026

The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…

Obama 48-Trump 39

By Gary Pearce April 26, 2026

A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…

“Conservative Successes”?

By Gary Pearce April 23, 2026

Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…