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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The paradox of George Herbert Walker Bush

By Gary Pearce January 7, 2016

To read Jon Meacham’s new biography of Bush 41 (“Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush”) is to realize how much politics has changed in 20 years, to understand why Jeb Bush is going nowhere in the presidential race and to marvel at GHWB’s admirable character – and fundamental cluelessness. The…

Who’s being weak here?

By Gary Pearce January 6, 2016

It damn sure isn’t President Obama, who is unafraid to show his grief, anger and determination to combat gun violence. No. It’s the cowardly Republican politicians who are so scared of the NRA they react hysterically over the smallest steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. The NRA…

Hateful New Year

By Gary Pearce January 5, 2016

We went from the season of peace and love to the season of war and hate in record time. In Oregon, a gang of gun-brandishing vigilantes seized control of public land and dared law enforcement to take it back. A frozen bird sanctuary, of all things. In Raleigh, a gang of paint-brandishing vandals defaced the…

Dog Zen

By Gary Pearce December 30, 2015

Mindfulness is big. People read books, search online and pay good money for seminars and personal instruction. I get free, daily Zen instruction from a true master: a six-year-old rescue dog named Ringo. Ringo practices walking mindfulness. He takes me along for lessons. He doesn’t go for a walk like you and I do, straight from…

Connecting the Dots

By Carter Wrenn December 28, 2015

It turns out President Obama’s case of the wobbles, when it comes to whipping ISIS, isn’t confined to putting ‘boots on the ground.’ There’s a story in The Hill telling how the Homeland Security Department got the wobbles too, stopping an investigation dead in its tracks to ‘connect the dots’ between outright terrorists and other…

“He isn’t politically correct”

By Gary Pearce December 28, 2015

Those are the code words often used by Donald Trump’s supporters. Meaning what? Judging from what Trump says, it must mean, “We like it when he says things that offend people, like women, the handicapped, the poor, Hispanics, Muslims and anybody else we don’t like.” These people appear to like it when he suggests most…

This Little Problem

By Carter Wrenn December 24, 2015

After what happened in San Bernardino you’d think, now, down in the bowels of the Immigration Department they’d be hard at work fixing the problems with granting visas. But, instead, they’re having a knock down drag-out fight over an odd bit of esoteric Orthodoxy: When it’s right and when it’s wrong to use social media…

The Drawbridge

By Carter Wrenn December 23, 2015

It was a long dry trek across an arid desert, reading through newspaper after newspaper looking for one editorial with a kind word to say about Donald Trump denying Muslim’s visas. Trump, the greatest newspaper editors roared, has torn the Constitution to shreds. Trump has desecrated America’s finest virtues. Trump is lower than pond scum.…

Ghost of Christmas Future

By Gary Pearce December 22, 2015

My last blog – a scenario wherein Donald Trump wins the Presidency – depressed some Democrats. And more than a few Republicans. So here is a Happier New Year scenario, in the form of a news story that might be written at the end of next year: In the wake of sweeping election defeats in 2016, Republican leaders…

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…