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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White House Tours

By Carter Wrenn March 8, 2013

President Obama just announced the Sequester spending cuts are so terrible he has no choice but to cancel White House tours;—that upset House Speaker John Boehner who immediately cried foul, saying Obama was grandstanding and he (Boehner) had kept the Capitol tours running and Obama could have done the same thing – which is no…

Incentivized

By Gary Pearce March 8, 2013

Governor McCrory and Republican legislators were against incentives before they were for them.   McCrory is clearly for them when he can bask in the announcement of 2,600 new jobs by MetLife. (Hello, Snoopy!)   Or maybe he’s for them when they are negotiated by Moore & Van Allen, his old law firm.   But…

A Tale of Two States

By Gary Pearce March 7, 2013

While Governor McCrory prepares a “very, very tight budget” and blocks Medicaid expansion, the Republican governor of another purple Southern state is going in the opposite direction.   Governor Rick Scott of Florida was a Tea Party poster boy when he got elected in 2010. Now a Miami Tea Party leader has sent the governor…

A Master Salesman

By Carter Wrenn March 6, 2013

Taking a deep breath, inhaling a lungful of the highly oxygenated Washington air, celebrity, intellectual, and poo-bah Newt Gingrich announced he, himself, personally, was about to deliver a ‘very-direct, no baloney’ manifesto on Republican politics – then lit into Karl Rove, saying Republican political consultants were arrogant idiots and that the country was better off…

Cut Spending Now?

By Gary Pearce March 6, 2013

With Carter’s help, George Holding had a simple message last fall that boiled down the Republican mantra: “Cut spending now.”   It’s the one message that unites Republicans as they splinter over immigration, gay marriage and guns in the wake of Mitt Romney’s loss.   Here’s the challenge for Democrats: What’s your alternative?   House…

Round Three Begins

By Carter Wrenn March 5, 2013

After the bell rang ending the Second Round of the Obama versus Boehner Fiscal Cliff-Sequester match-up, Obama danced around the ring arms raised as John Boehner staggered back to his corner wobbly-kneed.   Just six weeks ago, at the start of round two, the prim and proper Speaker was popular – viewed favorably by 29%…

Earth to Buck

By Gary Pearce March 5, 2013

“I really don’t see it as an issue,” said Senator Buck Newton. “If it went from County A to County B, I’m not sure why County B would have a major objection to that.”   “It” is waste brines and toxins from fracking, which – John Murawski reports in the N&O – could end up…

Home Alone

By Gary Pearce March 4, 2013

A TAPster says this legislature is like a 15-year-old boy whose parents leave him home alone for the weekend.   If a couple of friends come over and they drink a six-pack, he probably gets away with it.   If he invites the whole high school to a drunken bash that wrecks the house, wakes…

The Problem with Spending Other People’s Money

By Carter Wrenn March 1, 2013

It’s a fault of human nature: When you spend your own money you look at it one way but when you spend someone else’s money it’s a different story.   Once, years ago, I served on a church-school board with a half dozen tight-fisted, hard-eyed businessmen who could squeeze a dollar out of a turnip.…

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…

MAGA-gator

By Gary Pearce March 12, 2026

Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…