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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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…

Today’s Number: 48

By Gary Pearce February 3, 2015

One number jumps out of Public Policy Polling’s latest survey of the 2016 Governor’s race: 48. That’s the percentage of Independents who disapprove of Governor McCrory’s job performance. Only 32 percent approve.   McCrory leads Roy Cooper among all voters by 44-39. But that includes a 43-28 McCrory lead among Independents. That’s not going to…

Clinton-Bush, the Sequel

By Gary Pearce February 2, 2015

One score and four years after Bubba beat Poppy, another presidential election could be a showdown between the Republican First Family and Democratic First Family.   We shouldn’t be surprised. It’s the money, stupid.   Since the 1970s (or earlier), George H.W. Bush has built a vast network of fundraisers and donors. He did it…

In the Morgue

By Carter Wrenn January 31, 2015

EMS medics found Larry Green lying face down by the road with a head wound and no vital signs – he’d been hit by a car.   But, then, when a state Medical Examiner, Dr. J.B. Perdue, arrived and opened Green’s jacket his chest and abdomen moved. A medic asked if Green was breathing. The…

Vows Sworn in Churches

By Carter Wrenn January 30, 2015

Lord, deliver us – the Supreme Court is about to tell us who can and can’t marry.   Marriage as an institution twists and turns back into the mists of time but will a judge even ask how – and why – it began? Are roots of marriage biological? Anthropological? Or theological? Is marriage a…

Curses. Foiled Again.

By Gary Pearce January 30, 2015

Not long ago, I blogged that Democrats in the legislature should help Governor McCrory expand Medicaid (“Pass McCroryCare”). With Democratic votes and some Republicans, McCrory could overcome opposition from the legislative leadership.   But a Raleigh group called the Carolina Partnership for Reform, which says it “was formed to advocate for a freedom-based agenda in…

One God? Or Two?

By Carter Wrenn January 29, 2015

A young chaplain at Duke Chapel announced it was time for the University to transform its gothic cathedral into an enlightened multicultural center with Muslims chanting  azans from the bell tower while Methodists prayed in the sanctuary below – and without knowing it she crossed an invisible line.   Word spread and praying to two…

Big Staff Envy

By Gary Pearce January 29, 2015

A TAPster with long experience in the General Assembly offers this:   In reaction to Gary’s blog about “Big Government” and Speaker Moore’s laughably large staff, here are the three popular theories in Raleigh today about why Republican leaders like the Speaker and Lt. Governor think they can singlehandedly solve the state’s unemployment problem by…

We’re Moving to Substack

By Gary Pearce May 28, 2026

Carter Wrenn and I are moving to Substack. That’s where you’ll find our blogs in the…

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…