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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Hillary’s finest hour(s)

By Gary Pearce October 24, 2016

Donald Trump’s worst brought out Hillary Clinton’s best. The finest moments in her entire political life came in the last debate when, clad in white like an avenging angel, she slew the Donald dragon for his sexism, stood up unapologetically for all women and schooled us men about the right and wrong way to behave…

Clutter

By Carter Wrenn October 24, 2016

There’re two things about political ads a normal ‘Joe’ sitting at home watching TV could tell you that a lot of campaigns haven’t figured out – here’s an example: Americans for Prosperity just launched a new tv ad attacking Roy Cooper and like a lot of political ads it begins with a shadowy black and…

JFK and me

By Gary Pearce October 22, 2016

Teresa Leonard’s Past Times feature in the N&O today took me back to a night in 1960 when, as an 11-year-old, I shook John F. Kennedy’s hand. The N&O reported on September 18, 1960: “A swarm of wet, cheering citizens almost mobbed Jack Kennedy in their enthusiasm as he entered Raleigh Saturday. “It happened at…

Talking About Politics on CSPAN

By Gary Pearce October 22, 2016

Monday morning, I have the honor of being on CSPAN’s Washington Journal call-in show from 9:15-10. Please call in and ask me something easy. The host, Pedro Echevarria, wrote: “While we focus on the top-of-the-ticket race between Clinton and Trump, we also would want to focus on NC’s Senate race and topics such as voting…

Rigged Elections

By Carter Wrenn October 21, 2016

Donald Trump’s hammered away saying the election’s ‘rigged’ and 24 million people are registered improperly including 1.8 million dead people;— the first time I ever laid eyes on a list of registered voters back in 1976 it was filled with dead people and people who didn’t live at the address where they’d registered to vote.…

The Happiest Warrior

By Gary Pearce October 21, 2016

As this sad, dispiriting campaign winds down, one man looks like he’s having fun: President Obama. You see it when he speaks at rallies, when he chides Trump for “whining” and when he pokes fun at himself in interviews. So here are the imagined ruminations of the President during one of those late nights at…

Such a nasty man

By Gary Pearce October 20, 2016

Donald Trump soundly defeated Donald Trump last night. For a while at the start, Republicans had reason to hope he would arrest the free fall. Then Trump slipped out of his handlers’ leash. Or the drugs wore off. And again we saw the real Donald Trump. The headline, of course, is that he is the…

The Last Great Debate

By Carter Wrenn October 19, 2016

The ‘Last Great Debate’ starts in a few hours. In a nutshell a political debate like this one boils down to a simple fact: It’s a confrontation between two people – who’re facing each other across a stage – who each want to prove he or she will be a better President or Governor or…

Why isn’t she winning by 50 points?

By Gary Pearce October 19, 2016

As Donald Trump continues to escape Earth orbit, Hillary Clinton’s election appears increasingly likely. Yet…why do we still fear that Trump will turn into an asteroid, slam into us on Election Day and pulverize life as we know it? Let’s look at two exhibits. In a perceptive analysis, Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote…

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…