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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Trump, Fox and Facebook

By Gary Pearce August 11, 2016

Donald Trump is not some weird, one-time, election-year anomaly. He’s the logical product of a Fox News/Facebook society. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, put her finger on it. She said Trump is “unworthy of being our president” because of “his constant stream of cruel comments and…his attacks directed at people who could not respond…

Her damn e-mails

By Gary Pearce August 10, 2016

Hillary Clinton would be cruising to a landslide victory of historic proportions – if it wasn’t for her damn emails. She had a great convention. She got a great bounce in the polls. She wisely stayed silent while her opponent attacked a Gold Star family, fought with his own party and made people question his…

Fruit from Vices

By Carter Wrenn August 10, 2016

Six of us sat down for our weekly lunch and an ethical  perplexity landed on the table: Does a Republican have to defend Donald Trump, no matter what he says, because if he doesn’t he’s helping elect Hillary? Eric, an attorney, asked. No one liked Hillary but no one liked Trump either and then Eric…

Crooks and Fools

By Carter Wrenn August 9, 2016

Sitting in a century old steakhouse staring out at the Brooklyn Bridge thirty years ago Hank Greenburg (the pollster not the baseball player) explained an election that could only happen in the grubby circus of New York politics: Given a choice between a Crook and a Fool, he said, voters take the Crook. His theory…

Bombs Away!

By Gary Pearce August 6, 2016

The most devastating TV spot in political history was the “Daisy ad” in 1964. This year, Hillary Clinton’s campaign needs an ad that makes one simple point: If Donald Trump is elected President, he will have sole, unchecked power to start a nuclear war.  

Send Michelle

By Gary Pearce August 5, 2016

Hillary Clinton has been to North Carolina. President Obama has been here. Bill Clinton is back here. Tim Kaine has been here. It’s time to send the Big Gun: Michelle Obama. She was the biggest hit of the Democratic Convention, excepting Khizr Khan. Of course, Donald Trump hasn’t attacked Michelle. Yet. Maybe Melania is planning…

McCrory goes full Trump

By Gary Pearce August 4, 2016

Pat McCrory is acting more and more like Donald Trump. Like Trump, he’s thin-skinned and sensitive. Like Trump, he personally and viciously attacks anybody who disagrees with him. And like Trump, he can’t stop digging his hole deeper. McCrory had his chief of staff call a late-night press conference to accuse a career state scientist…

The Smell Test

By Carter Wrenn August 4, 2016

It’s an odd sort of logic: UNC-Chapel Hill lawyered up and made its case to the NCAA: It admitted it held phony classes that never met; it admitted football and basketball players were in the classes – but said none of that’s a problem because phony classes don’t violate NCAA rules. It’s an unusual argument…

Mad Man

By Gary Pearce August 3, 2016

We knew that when a woman ran for President there’d be talk about being temperamental, overly emotional, overly sensitive and subject to mood swings that might be dangerous in the Oval Office and Situation Room. We just didn’t know that talk would be about the man in the race. But since he won the Republican…

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…