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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Selling NC ‘24

By Gary Pearce 2023-05-30

North Carolina Democrats have a big selling job to do for 2024, and Anderson Clayton is selling hard. The state party chair was on ABC News’ GMA3 last week (link below) selling the idea that President Biden and other Democrats can win her state next year – and telling how to do it: “I really…

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Forgotten Stories from our Past: Franklin Roosevelt’s Prayer

By Carter Wrenn 2023-05-30

After twenty-four hours in labor his mother was given an overdose of chloroform – Franklin Roosevelt was born blue, limp, lifeless. A doctor gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Prey to illness as a child, he suffered diseases throughout his life. He married a shy awkward girl, his cousin Eleanor, who saw sex “an ordeal devoid of…

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Shut up, Gene?

By Gary Pearce 2023-05-27

Some North Carolina Democrats agree with Republican legislators on one thing: Gene Nichol should shut up. Or at least tone it down and turn down the volume. Ted Vaden writes in The Assembly that Nichol is “back in the spotlight, hurling his supercharged invective in a new book that surveys the changes that have occurred…

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GOP Control Freaks

By Gary Pearce 2023-05-25

How did the party of freedom, individual responsibility and limited government become the party of censorship, Big Brother and government control? Republican legislators in North Carolina, like their colleagues in other states and like Republican governors Ron DeSantis in Florida and Greg Abbott in Texas, want to control many things in our lives. Control what…

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Trading Bad for Worse

By Carter Wrenn 2023-05-24

A born showman running for Lt. Governor Mark Robinson boasted, ‘I am North Carolina…’ After he got elected, rolling on, he slammed foes, got cheers, but also stepped on land mines. Robinson started running for governor, changing directions posted bromides on Facebook: ‘I love the police…I love our veterans…My mother’s my hero…’. The showman vanished.…

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The Danube isn’t Blue

By Gary Pearce 2023-05-24

Strauss’ waltz notwithstanding, the Danube River is brown. Its powerful current flows 1,770 miles from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea in Romania, through 10 countries, past four national capitals and through 1,500 years of history. Gwyn and I took an eight-day cruise upriver from Budapest to Bratislava, Vienna, Krems, the Wachau…

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Cooper Drops the Mic – Twice

By Gary Pearce 2023-05-23

Just before we left for a European cruise (more on that later), Governor Roy Cooper held a boisterous Veto Rally that highlighted Republican legislators’ extreme abortion bill. The day we came back, he declared a “State of Emergency for public education” in a five-minute video that highlighted Republican legislators’ extreme anti-education budget. Supermajority-sotted Republicans called…

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My Memoir

By Carter Wrenn 2023-05-19

Back during coronavirus shutdowns my office telephone rang – a friend asked: ‘You’re not locked down?’  ‘I’m here alone.’  ‘I just read Jesse Helms’ pollster was Arthur Finkelstein.’ I told him about Arthur’s first poll for Jesse, about the first time I heard Jesse make a speech. He asked, ‘Why did Reagan lose to Gerald…

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Abandoning Faith

By Carter Wrenn 2023-05-18

A Gothic church built in the 19th century turned into a skateboard park in the 21st century. Every year thousands of churches shut down, end up being apartments, parks, demolished. At the end of the 20th century 62% of Americans said religion was very important to them – twenty three years later, in the 21st…

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Trump’s $1 Billion Bribe

By Gary Pearce 2024-05-16

This one stands out – even in the never-ending flood of Donald Trump’s sins, crimes and…

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Deceit and Betrayal

By Carter Wrenn 2024-05-16

Hamas invaded Israel, slaughtered 1200 Israelis. War started. Israel struck back. Biden said his commitment to…

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Poll Numbers

By Carter Wrenn 2024-05-15

A political candidate lives in his or her own small world. Fitting a jigsaw puzzle together,…

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