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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A Hole in the Boat?

By Carter Wrenn February 10, 2015

Before the sun set, the day the legislature returned to town, the Bull Mooses in the Senate had locked horns with Pat McCrory.   The Bull Mooses are a gregarious lot but they’re dangerous when crossed and, somewhere along the way, they decided there was a hole in the Governor’s boat when it came to…

Fickle

By Carter Wrenn February 9, 2015

She plighted her troth not in church and not as a bride or in marriage but in town hall meetings and political forums and rallies, saying she was a fire-breathing Tea Party conservative in a Congressional District filled with small towns and flannel-shirted farmers and churches full of hymn-singing Baptists.   After consummating her victory…

For It Before They Were Against It

By Gary Pearce February 9, 2015

Uncovering hypocrisy by politicians is as easy as finding sand at the beach. But the turnabout by Republicans on redistricting reform is noteworthy for its cynicism. Here’s what four key GOP Senators say now and did then.   “God bless ’em, I can’t wait to get it over here. It’s dead. It’s not going anywhere.”…

1939

By Carter Wrenn February 6, 2015

Robed in black from head to toe, a hood covering his face, with a hostage kneeling at his feet, he lifted a knife and started his litany.     Know, oh Obama, he said, that we will cut off your head in the White House.   He wasn’t done.   This is my message to…

Hands Off

By Gary Pearce February 6, 2015

Senator Tillis, we’d like to discuss your intriguing idea about not requiring restaurant employees to wash their hands before serving our food, but we’re due back on Planet Earth.   Besides, who could top Barry Saunders’ skewering in the N&O? Especially this: “Repeated efforts to get a comment from the Senator’s office or from Starbucks’…

A Speech for the Ages

By Gary Pearce February 5, 2015

A TAPster offers this view of the State of the State – and the GOP’s mindset:   Governor McCrory’s weepy, exhausting speech for the ages (it sure seemed like it lasted that long) Wednesday night highlights again the philosophical mess entangling today’s modern Republicans.   McCrory proposes to address some of the state’s challenges with…

Game of Groans

By Gary Pearce February 5, 2015

When your speech goes on for an hour and 20 minutes, you need either a clearer vision or a new speechwriter. Viewers desperately needed some diversion.   Twitter to the rescue! Featuring a special guest appearance by Tony Tata, the DOT Secretary who apparently is our answer to Tom Clancy and a monster on Twitter!…

Party Time

By Gary Pearce February 4, 2015

When people ask, “What are we going to do about the North Carolina Democratic Party?” there’s a temptation to say, “Not a damned thing. Let those people fight each other while the rest of us fight the Republicans.”   But Thomas Mills, publisher of the estimable blog PoliticsNC, offers a more thoughtful and insightful viewpoint,…

Turning the Presidential Race Upside Down

By Carter Wrenn February 3, 2015

Bush’s steady and Hilary’s experienced and it all looks familiar but deep within the earth hidden rivers are flowing that may turn the Presidential race upside down.   No one had seen a caliph or caliphate for a millennium. Then, suddenly, in Yemen, Nigeria, North Africa, Syria and Iraq we have caliphates – and women…

Another School Study? Yes.

By Gary Pearce March 19, 2026

Some progressives groaned when Governor Josh Stein announced a bipartisan “Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education”…

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…