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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Flip a Coin?

By Carter Wrenn October 29, 2014

Thom Tillis said Kay Hagan voted for Obama’s Stimulus Bill then her husband’s company got $390,000 in Stimulus Funds as a pay-off. And Hagan fired back Tillis (as Speaker) put a toll road near Charlotte in exchange for $25,000 in campaign contributions and sold three seats on the UNC Board of Governors for $75,000 in…

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Tillis Vs. Tillis

By Gary Pearce October 29, 2014

Thom Tillis faces a big obstacle as he tries to catch up in the final days: Thom Tillis.   If you turn off the sound and just watch Tillis, you’ll see the problem he has swaying undecided voters, especially those Walmart (or Target) moms who haven’t made up their minds yet.   Tillis can look…

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Not a Ticket Splitter

By Carter Wrenn October 29, 2014

A pollster will usually ask voters: Would you say you 1) Always vote Democratic, 2) Usually vote Democratic, 3) Always vote Republican, 4) Usually vote Republican or 5) would you say you split your ticket and vote for about as many Republicans as Democrats?   Down at the Editorial Board (not in the news room)…

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Mata Hari

By Carter Wrenn October 28, 2014

Eric pointed to the word ‘backlash’ and said, They put a picture of a Black minister, sneering, beneath a headline saying ‘backlash’ then quote the ACLU as saying Black preachers want to punish gay people because of who they love.   A trio of amenable grunts rose from the end of the table then out…

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The Next Jonas Salk

By Carter Wrenn October 28, 2014

Kaci Hickox was mad as hops – she’d gotten off the plane in Newark, been hustled straight into quarantine, and three days later she was still in quarantine only by then she’d hired a lawyer to sue Governor Chris Christie. A few days before Ms. Hickox flew from Sierra Leone to Newark, a doctor, who’d…

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Irony or Hypocrisy?

By Gary Pearce October 27, 2014

An African-American minister proclaimed that a gay person should not be a judge. He also joined Rep. Skip Stam-and apparently 27 other House Republicans-in proclaiming that magistrates, who are officers of the court, should not have to carry out laws and court decisions they don’t like.   Forty years ago, several magistrates in North Carolina…

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Asleep at the Switch

By Carter Wrenn October 27, 2014

As bleak as Governor McCrory’s job approval numbers were in the WRAL poll, that wasn’t the worst news. Consider how Republicans, Democrats and Independents feel about the General Assembly.                                                                                 Republican Voters                                             Approve 35%                                             Disapprove 38%                                               Conservative Voters                                             Approve 33%                                             Disapprove 37%                                               Independent Voters                                             Approve…

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Voter App

By Gary Pearce October 24, 2014

The Republican effort to suppress votes at Appalachian State University may have backfired.   More than 700 people voted yesterday at the Student Union polling place that the State Board of Elections tried to shut down. Now we know why the board didn’t want it.   An App student said, “It sends a clear message…

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Disapproving of Pat

By Carter Wrenn October 24, 2014

    36% Approve 46% Disapprove   The WRAL Poll painted a bleak picture  of a Governor caught between a rock and a hard place.  As Mark Binker wrote, only a little over a third of the voters approve of the job Governor McCrory is doing.   But worse news lurked beneath the surface.  …

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What You Missed

By Gary Pearce January 21, 2025

Some of my friends didn’t watch Trump’s inauguration. One went to church. One went to every…

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Women Warriors

By Gary Pearce January 19, 2025

The Democratic Party needs to get tougher, and that’s a job for Democratic women. Sydney Batch…

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Lost Truth

By Carter Wrenn January 16, 2025

Back in the old days three TV networks – ABC, NBC, CBS – ruled the news;…

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