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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Democrats: storming the castle

By Gary Pearce February 10, 2016

Hillary Clinton has the bad luck to be the Establishment in a bad year for the Establishment. She’s living in the castle just as peasants with pitchforks and torches storm the castle. She took $200,000 speaking fees from Wall Street just as Democrats turned against Wall Street. This is galling to Baby Boomers like the…

Another Band-Aid

By Carter Wrenn February 9, 2016

At first the President figured he could whip ISIS without putting a single foot soldier on the ground in Iraq. It didn’t work. Then he figured he could whip ISIS with 300 foot soldiers he called advisors. That didn’t work either. So last week, without fanfare, the Secretary of Defense announced he was sending 1,800…

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…

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…