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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Left out

By Gary Pearce September 16, 2015

At least Democrats left out of the budget process have company: Governor McCrory. Lobbyists report that, just like them, McCrory was calling around last weekend trying to find out what was in the budget. It wasn’t just that he had no impact. He had no information. Never has a Governor had so little clout with…

Taking a Punch

By Carter Wrenn September 16, 2015

It was like watching the toughest football player from Phillips Andover Academy set out to put a street kid from Queens in his place and getting the surprise of his life. Quiet and polite Jeb Bush, of Phillips Andover Academy, rolled out a video saying Donald Trump was a Manhattan liberal. In the blink of…

Jeb! and the silver foot in his mouth

By Gary Pearce September 15, 2015

Anybody who has ever worked on campaign debate prep will recognize the coming train wreck in this New York Times story about Jeb! Bush: “In rigorous practice sessions that have crisscrossed the country in the past few weeks, Mr. Bush has been preparing pointed responses to Mr. Trump’s most frequent insults (he has called Mr.…

Sock the rich

By Gary Pearce September 14, 2015

In North Carolina, thousands rally for an aging lefty in his race against Bill and Hillary Clinton’s New Democratic Party. In Britain, Tony Blair’s New Labour Party picks an aging, even-leftier lefty for its new leader. What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here? What’s going on isn’t just on the…

The Sound of Gunfire

By Carter Wrenn September 10, 2015

The first thing you saw in Donald Trump’s video was a mug shot of an illegal immigrant who’d murdered a girl and the next thing you heard was Jeb Bush’s voice saying illegal immigration wasn’t a crime it was an act of love. Donald Trump’s first video was short, brutal and to the point. The…

The Return of Slavery

By Carter Wrenn September 9, 2015

The New York Times wrote a story telling how a man bought a twelve year old girl as a sex slave, tied her, gagged her, knelt by the bed, prayed, then stood over her and explained how, because she was a heathen, raping her was going to bring him closer to God. The Yazidis –…

Karl Rove’s McKinley mania

By Gary Pearce September 8, 2015

Just as President Obama sends Mt. McKinley to the dustbin of history, Karl Rove writes a book extolling the virtues of President McKinley. Rove, who gave us George Bush, now gives us McKinley as the model for the modern Republican President. Rove’s book, The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters,…

Standing in the Shadows Laughing

By Carter Wrenn September 8, 2015

The Republicans are so mad they’re ready to lynch every politician in Washington so, if you’re the Prince of Mischief, you need a magic trick. Quick. Next, out of nowhere, a man walks onto a stage who talks in plain simple English, saying, China is screwing us, who doesn’t sound a bit like a politician…

Save or delete Hillary?

By Gary Pearce September 4, 2015

Hillary Clinton’s aura of inevitability is colliding with the Clintons’ aura of inevitable scandal. What do we make of the email flap? We know that Hillary-haters will seize on any story to gin up controversy and “scandal.” We know that Hillary’s palace guard will blame it on a hostile media and a vast right-wing conspiracy.…

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…