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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Getting Shed of the Politicians

By Carter Wrenn September 18, 2015

ISIS is selling women at open-air slave markets; Iraq’s awash with Iranian soldiers; the Taliban’s waiting for us to high-tail it so it can take-over Afghanistan; Putin’s gobbled up the Crimea; and Iran’s marching down the road to a nuclear bomb. So with Obama in the running for the weakest President in memory, after Republicans…

Stage frights

By Gary Pearce September 17, 2015

Say what you will about Ronald Reagan, he looked like a President. Not a soul on his stage last night measured up. Air Force One was a fitting backdrop. You couldn’t imagine any one of the candidates walking down those steps and representing the United States of America. Trump’s act wore thin. And it didn’t…

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,…

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…