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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John of Arabia

By Carter Wrenn May 5, 2011

First we got into another ‘short war’ (over in Libya) then the war turned into a logjam then one morning I opened the newspaper and there was John McCain traipsing around Benghazi saying we ought to dive in deeper to break the logjam and next the Obama administration was sending the ‘rebels’ $25 million.  …

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18,000 Teachers

By Carter Wrenn May 5, 2011

For two years Governor Perdue’s been face to face battling an enemy (let’s name her enemy ‘Problems’ – meaning she’s been fighting with faceless abstractions like deficits, unemployment and recessions rather than flesh and blood people) and she’s been losing at every turn.   But now she’s face to face with a new enemy: Republicans. And…

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The Gang of Five

By Gary Pearce May 5, 2011

Governor Perdue says you can “take it to the bank” that the five Democrats who voted for the House budget will be with her in a veto fight.   She should be right. And this will be a test of her political muscle.   I ask myself: What would Jim Hunt do? Back in the…

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Not Set in Stone…

By Carter Wrenn May 4, 2011

Last election President Obama’s Job Approval Rating defined how people voted – if you thought Obama was doing just fine (or sort of fine) you voted Democratic, if you didn’t think he was doing so fine you voted Republican (unless you were an independent or Democrat who’d voted for Obama in 2008 – then, most…

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Sacred Cows

By Gary Pearce May 4, 2011

“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” – George Orwell, Animal Farm   Legislative leaders said everything would be on the table for budget cuts.   But a Democratic TAPster sent these “quick, back-of-the-envelope numbers” on how deeply the House budget cut agencies headed by Republicans:   Department of Labor cut…

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The Obama Bump

By Gary Pearce May 4, 2011

A caution for giddy Democrats who think the killing of bin Laden will reelect President Obama: This too shall pass.   Remember President George Herbert Walker Bush.   Eighteen months before the 1992 reelection, right after the four-day Iraq war, his approval ratings were at an astronomical level, near 90 percent.   A friend reminded…

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Lafayette Park

By Carter Wrenn May 3, 2011

Osama’s dead and let’s hope Al Qaeda passes with him (or at least falls apart without him) but there’s one bit of grit in the gears that says maybe we paid a price for his villainy we hadn’t reckoned on.   It’s the celebrating.   The way we – especially our young people – seem…

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Morning in Young America

By Gary Pearce May 3, 2011

The media and political elites’ reaction to Osama’s killing was predictable. Not so that of Real America. Especially Young America.   Democrats – understandably – were all but gloating that it was President Obama, the supposed Muslim Manchurian Candidate, who “got” bin Laden. MSNBC endlessly reminded us that President Bush had minimized the importance of…

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It’s Not a Tax…

By Carter Wrenn May 2, 2011

Today’s new breed of politicians are a lot more versatile than the old-timers most of us grew up with.   In the old days when Democratic politicians raised ‘fees’ – like the fee you pay for your car registration – they’d argue stubbornly it was not a tax increase and Republican politicians would argue back,…

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Who Pays the Price

By Carter Wrenn February 5, 2025

Wiley lifted his cell phone, held it in the air in front of him, pushed a…

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Going Too Far

By Carter Wrenn February 3, 2025

Cheeks round, pudgy fingers fumbling, Ellmer took a newspaper article out of his briefcase, pushed it…

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Dividing Line

By Gary Pearce February 3, 2025

Trump has done America a big favor: in just two weeks, he’s drawn a bright line…

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