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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Disputing Pat

By Gary Pearce August 8, 2011

A TAPster takes on Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory over McCrory’s op-ed in the Charlotte Observer on voter ID: “I think there are some interesting facts that McCrory failed to share in his piece – and I’m surprised a paper like the Observer would publish without asking him some questions on his sources. Notably McCrory…

The Bonehead Budget Award

By Gary Pearce August 8, 2011

Linda Hayes, the secretary of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, is this month’s winner of the Thom Tillis Bonehead Budget Award.   Speaker Tillis, you recall, put state government on a diet, then gave his staff fat raises.   Hayes wins for complaining about budget cuts and then, according to a TAPster, “closing a couple…

Smart ALECs

By Gary Pearce August 7, 2011

A TAPster takes strong issue with the N&O’s reporting on the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is meeting this weekend in New Orleans. “The N&O’s Under the Dome blog reached a distressing new low in public affairs reporting with its story on the American Legislative Exchange Council. The blog reports on allegations by a liberal…

TV Alert

By Gary Pearce August 5, 2011

For those of you who don’t have a date Saturday night, Carter and I will be on WRAL’s “On the Record” show at 7 pm. If you have something better to do, you can watch the 30-minute program online.   We’re talking about politics, of course: veto overrides, redistricting and the 2012 elections.

Outlook for Obama

By Gary Pearce August 5, 2011

Public Policy Polling is bullish on President Obama’s reelection prospects. I’m not.   Tom Jensen at PPP wrote this week:   “A broad theme has been emerging in our state by state Presidential polling over the last couple months: if the Republicans nominate Mitt Romney it’s a tossup. And if they nominate anyone else it’s…

Bad Outcome for Democrats

By Gary Pearce August 4, 2011

Democrats hoped the debt-ceiling narrative would play out like this: Tea Party extremists nearly drive America over the cliff.   Instead, it went like this: Government is broken and doesn’t work.   That’s a big problem for Democrats. Because voters see them as the government party and Republicans as the anti-government party.   Democrats always…

Battling Extremism

By Gary Pearce August 3, 2011

The headline and teaser on Politico today read: “W.H. counter-radicalization plan due: The administration plans to roll out its new strategy for countering extremism in the U.S. Wednesday.”   Given how the debt-ceiling fight turned out, it’s about time the White House came up with a strategy for combating the Tea Party.

Holden On

By Gary Pearce August 3, 2011

Can Holden Thorp escape being sacked by an all-out Rams Club blitz?   Even worse, he’s catching hell both ways: from people mad he fired Butch Davis and from people mad he didn’t fire Davis earlier.   No good deed goes unpunished.   Here’s the story I hear: Davis’ firing was Thorp’s doing, not new…

Moody’s and the Meltdown

By Carter Wrenn August 2, 2011

Barney Frank may be more liberal than Harry Reid or Obama combined but he doesn’t mind marching right into the lion’s den at Fox News and taking on any anchorman in sight.   The other day in an interview Neil Cavuto put Frank on the spot, asking if the Democrats’ brinksmanship on the debt ceiling…

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…

Enough is Enough

By Gary Pearce March 11, 2026

Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had…