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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MAGA World

By Carter Wrenn July 9, 2025

Let’s talk about the MAGA world. Trump tells a Republican Congressman ‘Vote for this’ and even though the Congressman thinks it’s a bad bill he votes the way Trump wants. How did Trump get that kind of power? Let’s take a look at North Carolina: We have 10 Republican Congressmen, all elected in ruby-red Republican…

Trump Disasters

By Gary Pearce July 9, 2025

While deadly floods hit Texas and North Carolina, Trump is gutting the National Weather Service, gutting FEMA and aggravating climate change, which causes more calamitous storms. He golfs while Americans drown. A headline in the Guardian said, “Deadly floods could be new normal as Trump guts federal agencies, experts warn.” Talking about the Texas disaster…

Tillis Told the Truth

By Gary Pearce July 7, 2025

Democrats have been gloating over Senator Thom Tillis’ political demise. We should be quoting him. Tillis is the single best validator of Democrats’ single most powerful issue against Trump and Republicans: the deep, devastating and life-threatening cuts in healthcare they rammed through Congress last week. He challenged them in a floor speech: “So, what do…

No End in Sight…

By Carter Wrenn July 7, 2025

Do an independent campaign, John Bolton told me a year before the 1980 election. Puzzled, I frowned, What’s an independent campaign? No corporation could give an independent campaign a penny, no person could give more than $5000. But 200,000 conservatives across the country had given $25 or $50 contributions to Jesse Helms’ 1978 campaign so…

GOP Sheep

By Gary Pearce July 6, 2025

The sheep, not the elephant, should be the symbol of today’s Republican Party. N.C. House Speaker Destin Hall said this last week about who will replace Senator Thom Tillis: “We must unify behind whoever President Trump picks.” “Whoever President Trump picks”? As of last week, there were 2,290,923 registered Republican voters in North Carolina. But…

Never Boring…

By Carter Wrenn July 2, 2025

You see a lot of strutting, and the truth can fly out the window in the blink of an eye, but the one thing you have to say about politics is…it’s never boring. Ole Thom Tillis sat in the Senate happy until the day Trump posted on Truth Social ‘he’s got to go’ – so…

Paying a Price

By Carter Wrenn June 30, 2025

I’ve sat through a lot of poll briefings over the years and gotten a lot of surprises. But two polls last week – one on CNN, another on Fox – surprised me more than most: Both said most people opposed bombing Iran’s nuclear sites. Now who on earth would want to let Iran have a…

Tillis and Cooper

By Gary Pearce June 30, 2025

Thom Tillis and Roy Cooper now have the opportunity – no, the obligation – to turn the tide of history against Trump. Tillis made a political decision not to run for reelection. Now he should make a patriotic declaration of conscience. For the next 18 months – unbound by reelection concerns – Tillis can be…

A Winning Message

By Gary Pearce June 28, 2025

Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, won the mayoral primary in New York City on the same message Trump won on in 2024: things cost too much and we need to get prices down. Trump, of course, has broken that promise. He keeps us distracted with ICE raids, Iran bombs, Qatari jets, Trump bitcoins and Trump…

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…

Enough is Enough

By Gary Pearce March 11, 2026

Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had…