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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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.…

Say it ain’t so, Joe

By Gary Pearce September 3, 2015

Don’t do it, Joe. Don’t run for President. A Biden candidacy has appeal. Democrats would have a happy-warrior version of Donald Trump, an authentic character who campaigns with joy, gusto and an unfiltered mouth. A warm, genuine human being who has seen tragedy and suffering, yet soldiered on. But he will lose. He will be…

The 24-Hour News Cycle

By Carter Wrenn September 3, 2015

With the dawn of 24-hour news cycle and the instant ‘Tweet’ reporters need a new story every five minutes and, it turns out, even a Republican Primary with nineteen candidates and Donald Trump, all talking at once, can’t fill the bill. The reporters need more so they’re straining to turn Hillary versus Bernie Sanders into…

The great Mt. McKinley freakout

By Gary Pearce September 2, 2015

At this point you suspect President Obama is just messing with Republicans’ minds: “How can I drive the crazies crazier?” You can see him relaxing on the Truman Balcony one evening, nursing an extra-dry Grey Goose martini and looking forward to his Alaska trip. Suddenly it hits him: “I’ve got it! I’ll change the name…

The Capitator

By Carter Wrenn September 2, 2015

Back when the legislature came to town, State Senator Ralph Hise announced Medicaid spending was out of control but he had a solution – Capitation – which worked like this: He was going to hire MCOs (Medicaid HMOs) to run Medicaid then he was going to tell them: This is all you get to spend.…

How the State Senate Works

By Carter Wrenn September 1, 2015

A handful of Senate leaders sit down in backrooms and make plans then come out of the rooms and a bill pops into a committee then they march over to the Senate Chamber and pass it in the blink of an eye. The same Senate powers-that-be made a plan to ‘transfer’ millions of dollars in…

Trump masters the media universe

By Gary Pearce August 31, 2015

Ever since FDR gave his fireside chats on radio, successful Presidents have mastered the dominant new media of their time. Donald Trump masters today’s media by providing what the media wants above all: constant controversy. JFK won on TV in 1960 and kept winning with live televised news conferences. Roger Ailes orchestrated Nixon’s win in…

The Uber-Alpha-Male

By Carter Wrenn August 31, 2015

Long ago, in the land we live in today, when enemies threatened, men named Douglas MacArthur, George Patton and John Wayne killed them – whether the enemy was named Hirohito, Hitler or Liberty Valance. Times changed. Small towns with old-fashioned values vanished, devoured by booming secular cities. Newspapers were replaced by Facebook, Twitter, and Internet…

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…