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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The 13th District Republican Primary

By Carter Wrenn February 7, 2024

The primary’s heating up in the new 13th Congressional District – there’re 14 candidates in all but four are dominating the race: Kelly Daughtry, Fred Von Canon, Brad Knott and DeVan Barbour. DeVan Barbour and Kelly Daughtry both ran in the primary two years ago. Barbour finished 2nd. Daughtry 3rd. Both are from Johnston County…

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Swifties vs MAGA

By Gary Pearce February 7, 2024

The MAGA meltdown over Taylor Swift explains much about politics today – and for the last 70 years. It’s about old white men who are angry about being knocked off their perch by women, Blacks, Latinos, young people and LGBTQ people. It’s been going on since May 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared school…

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The Republican John Edwards

By Gary Pearce February 5, 2024

Bill Graham, a Republican candidate for governor, is trying to become the second trial lawyer to win high office in North Carolina. The first was John Edwards, a Democrat who was elected U.S. Senator in 1998. Like Edwards, Graham comes from humble roots and made millions of dollars as a plaintiffs’ lawyer representing little guys…

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Make Trump Lose Again

By Gary Pearce January 26, 2024

As always, Iowa and New Hampshire changed everything. President Biden is no longer running against a non-existent ideal. It’s him or Trump. America or MAGA. Democracy or dictatorship. Trump looks unbeatable in the Republican race. And unelectable in November. The New York Times, which for months harped on Biden’s liabilities, now notes: “Mr. Trump’s campaign…

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Hunt, Helms and MLK

By Gary Pearce January 20, 2024

I was struck last week by Republican politicians posting tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., even as they fight everything he stood, marched and died for. Forty years ago, in 1984, the King holiday was a big issue in the Senate race between Jesse Helms and Jim Hunt. Helms opposed the holiday. He filibustered…

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Fear and Loathing 2024

By Gary Pearce January 17, 2024

I’m optimistic about the 2024 elections, as I’ve written. But I’m fearful for our nation. Because of Trump and MAGA. It’s clear he will summon his mobs to violence, as he did January 6, 2021. He has promised “bedlam” if courts hold him to account for crimes. Already, there have been “swatting” calls, bomb threats…

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A Sacred Cause

By Gary Pearce January 9, 2024

In one stroke, with one speech, President Biden transformed the 2024 election. It’s about “a sacred cause:” the defense of democracy. In his speech near Valley Forge last week – a day before the third anniversary of the Trump-MAGA mob’s violent assault on the Capitol and the Constitution – the President invoked the spirit of…

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Happy New Year, Democrats

By Gary Pearce January 5, 2024

I’m optimistic about Democrats in 2024. The country is better off today than it was four years ago. The economy is growing, jobs are increasing, prices have steadied and the stock market is booming. We have a President focused on leading, governing and uniting – not a would-be dictator obsessed with 24-hour tweeting, insulting and…

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Bombs Falling

By Carter Wrenn December 28, 2023

Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal told Meet the Press that the Biden Administration has a duty to stop Israel killing civilians. “The United States cannot be backers of this kind of indiscriminate bombing.” To defeat Hitler and Tojo we bombed cities, civilians. If Pramila Jayapal had stood up in Congress in 1944 and told us, Stop…

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Another Story from Politics

By Carter Wrenn December 24, 2024

Watergate sunk Nixon. Jimmy Carter was elected. Two years later Jesse Helms ran for reelection. In…

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Unhappy Holidays?

By Gary Pearce December 24, 2024

We Americans are angry this Christmas. 77 million voters were so angry they elected Trump. 75…

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A Surprise

By Carter Wrenn December 23, 2024

‘You tell a lot of good stories about Reagan, like his saying a prayer for the…

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