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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Not So Super

By Gary Pearce February 8, 2016

You could feel the air go out of the entire state of North Carolina. Panther Nation was more deflated than Tom Brady’s footballs. The best offensive moves of the night were by Beyonce, not Cam Newton. Now Cam’s getting knocked down as much as he got raised up the last two weeks. Did he chicken…

A Devilish Mess

By Carter Wrenn February 5, 2016

Sometimes it’s the little things that trip a fellow up. Last year, Governor McCrory called a routine meeting so two of his supporters could sit down with state officials to discuss their contract with the Department of Prisons. But then right in the middle of the meeting one of the Governor’s supporters, Graeme Keith, Sr.,…

Chill, Democrats

By Gary Pearce February 4, 2016

Republicans may nominate the most despicable and unacceptable imaginable candidate for President – a crude billionaire so loathsome he could deal the GOP its most crushing defeat since 1974 – and Democrats are going at each other’s throats over Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders? Judging from the growing bitterness and snide sniping on social media,…

A Ray of Hope

By Carter Wrenn February 3, 2016

For years I’ve thought of the people who vote in Republican Primaries as the salt of the earth – as old-fashioned, common sense patriots who might get bamboozled by a politician now and then but who in the end, blessed with a kind of inerrant compass, spot the varmints. But when this year’s Republican Primaries…

Khomeini Smiling

By Carter Wrenn February 2, 2016

Back in 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini took over our embassy in Tehran we “froze” $400 million in Iranian cash. The cash sat there, frozen, until last week when two things happened: Iran released four American hostages. And the President announced we were giving Iran back the $400 million plus $1.3 billion in interest. The Republicans…

Tempting Trump

By Carter Wrenn February 1, 2016

The Washington Republicans, trapped between a rock and a hard place, asked themselves, Who can we make the best deal with –Trump or Cruz? And that was all it took. The ole Master Dealmaker couldn’t resist. Flinging all his anti-Washington rhetoric out the window he got up at a rally in Las Vegas and announced,…

The Great White Hope

By Gary Pearce February 1, 2016

As we get to the real voting, it gets real clear that Donald Trump’s candidacy comes down to the lowest common denominator of American politics: race. Like any great scam artist, Trump has come up with a way of putting the best face on the ugliest impulses. He first seized the stage as an anti-Obama…

The Great Debate

By Carter Wrenn January 29, 2016

Last night at the Republican debate all seven candidates might have taken aim at Donald Trump and blasted away and Trump’s decision not to attend might have backfired. Instead, they stood up there in a row sounding (expect, perhaps, Chris Christie) like seven Washington politicians – attacking each other. And handed Trump a gift.

Glows in the Dark

By Carter Wrenn January 29, 2016

Governor McCrory’s Secretary of the Environment doesn’t particularly care for solar energy so he’s set out to scuttle it by declaring nuclear energy is clean energy, just like solar. Think about that. It’s odd. The Chief Environmental Officer for all of North Carolina thinks nuclear waste, which has to be buried under a mountain in…

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…