Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
When Donald Trump stormed out of Trump Tower and roared into the lead in the Republican Primary, the press said he was sure to collapse. They said the same thing after the first debate. And after the second debate. After the third debate, with Trump still leading, they said: Rubio soars. Cruz scores. Trump falls…
“Very bad decision. Sorry, but this will soil our Gov…” – Secretary of Public Safety Frank Perry The amateurishness of Governor McCrory’s office is chronic and sometimes comic, but now it has veered dangerously close to serious trouble. The Governor’s fierce counterattack against the N&O story (“McCrory brokered meeting on contract for friend and campaign…
When temptation raises its head politicians, like most folks, topple off their pedestals. Back when the Democrats ruled the roost in Raleigh the Republicans reviled them for their wicked ways like pork barrel spending and wasteful earmarks. Now the Republicans rule the roost and, according to the newspapers, temptation’s struck again, tying them in a…
It was a lopsided fight from the start: An international conglomerate marched a battalion of blue-chip lobbyists and high-priced lawyers into the arena and took aim at a gaggle of bureaucrats who didn’t want to fight and who, at best, stumbled and fumbled when they had to. What Alcoa had its sights set on was…
Poor Jeb looked like an aging big-leaguer striking out on three straight pitches from a Little Leaguer with a wicked fastball. Now Marco gets his moment on the mound. So four questions from last night’s Republican playoff game: When will the rats desert the SS Bush? You almost feel sorry for the Establishment Republicans, including…
A TAPster beat me to the punch in dismissing Rep. Gary Pendleton’s headline-grabbing but misguided idea of limiting the length of legislative sessions: Rep. Pendleton bravely talks about how other, larger states get their work done in 60 or 90 days and North Carolina’s General Assembly languishes for eight or nine months, sometimes longer. He’s…
Sometimes politicians just have to rise above principle. Like Republican legislative leaders who have come to love spending taxpayers’ money – for goodies that help them politically. The Republican civic religion is that government is the problem and no problem can be solved by throwing tax dollars at it. Unless it’s a baseball stadium or…
After suffering one of the worst summers in the history of presidential races, Hillary Clinton just wrapped up one of the best weeks in the history of presidential races. Thanks to the House Benghazi Committee. Last week she won the Democratic debate. Then Joe Biden decided he couldn’t beat her. Then she did something John…
Long ago the bib-overall wearing editor of a small weekly newspaper in Raleigh published a story claiming Jim Hunt was gay. There wasn’t a word of truth in it. He’d made it up and splashed it across the front page, hoping to elect Jesse Helms. For one stunned moment, there was a collective gasp. Then…
Carter Wrenn and I are moving to Substack. That’s where you’ll find our blogs in the…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…