Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
A recent poll showed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. getting 20% of the Democratic vote against President Biden. I’ll wager that most all of the 20% who picked Kennedy know just one thing about him: He’s a “Kennedy.” They don’t know – yet – that he’s an anti-vaccine, anti-science, conspiracy-spewing misogynist who said recently, “I’m proud…
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A year into the toughest campaign I was ever in when Jesse Helms trailed popular Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points, Arthur Finkelstein walked into my office, dropped a poll on the table, looked from me to Tom Ellis, pursed his lips. “It’s time you two learned something new.” Arthur pointed to the 4-inch-thick poll…
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Sixty years later, history has hit “repeat” on the fight for free speech at North Carolina’s public universities. In 1963, it was one bill – the infamous Speaker Ban law – passed on one day at the end of the legislative session. Now, it’s bill after bill, step after step, day after day: the legislature,…
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Would you trust a politician who told you he never makes mistakes? Would you stare back surprised? Roll your eyes? Shaking your head think, Pride’s one of the seven deadly sins. Brace yourself. Trump’s War Room recently tweeted: “Trump is always right!”
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A reader wrote about North Carolina Democrats’ 2024 strategy: “I question the wisdom of trying to recruit Democratic candidates in all 170 legislative districts. Precincts and counties that voted overwhelmingly for Trump seem like lost causes to me.” Indeed, some places are 70 percent Republican. Why run there? Here’s why. Josh Stein won the 2020…
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One group cheers Trump. Another cheers Biden. And a lot of people dislike both. And that third group will decide who wins the election next fall. In 2016, they didn’t like Trump, disliked Hillary more, Trump won. In 2020 they didn’t like Biden, disliked Trump more, Biden won. This year, for the third straight presidential…
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On election night three years ago standing at a podium in the White House Trump said the election was stolen. He went on to claim voting machines switched Trump votes to Biden. And that boxes of illegal ballots were rolled into voting centers late at night. Neither turned out to be true. And he was…
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In his ‘Farewell Address,’ leaving office, George Washington reminded Americans of a simple truth: “Honesty is the best policy.” And for years when a politician made the mistake of telling a lie he paid a price. During the Vietnam War Lyndon Johnson told people we were winning – the Tet Offensive proved he was spinning…
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Less than 24 hours after I blogged that Democrats in the legislature seemed “beat down,” I got corrected. One of the House Democratic leaders called Saturday morning to tell me that caucus members are fired up, energized and getting organized for 2024, 2026, 2028 – and for taking the majority by the end of the…
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The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient…
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Bert Bennett of Winston-Salem, the legendary political godfather to Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, had a…
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This is bad. Bad for America and for the world. Bad for women, for immigrants, for…
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