Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
A TAPster writes “there’s a case to be made that the political leadership of the state should fix the glommed up mess in the UNC football program.” True, but I think the ball is now in the hands of UNC President Tom Ross. Not UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp; he climbed out on a…
Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s that the dog days of summer always seem to fire up political passions. But this debt-ceiling kabuki in Washington has everybody hot and bothered. Democrats are mad at Republicans, and Republicans are mad at Democrats, of course. But conservative Republicans are also mad at Tea Party…
Obama’s got just about everyone convinced we’re staring economic Armageddon in the face if we don’t raise the debt ceiling. John Boehner agrees, Mitch McConnell agrees and just about every TV pundit agrees. But here’s what’s hard to figure out: Obama, Boehner, McConnell and Harry Reid could avoid Armageddon with one simple bill that…
President Obama and Governor Perdue may have gained political yardage by contrasting themselves to unreasonable, extremist Republicans. But – in light of what has happened to both of them in recent days – they may lose even more ground by looking weak. Weakness is a flaw voters will not forgive in an executive. President…
North Carolina Democrats are, truly, blue these days. My unscientific survey of party leaders and activists last week found mainly gloom about next year’s legislative and congressional races in the face of new, Republican-gerrymandered districts. Maybe the most telling sign is a phenomenon I haven’t experienced in all my years of politics: North…
News reports this morning say President Obama and Speaker Boehner are near a deal on taxes, spending and the debt limit. If it happens, the golfers among us will know why: They teed it up together a few weeks back. There’s nothing like 18 holes to build a friendship – and show you…
First Congress voted against the war in Libya, then it voted to go right on paying to fight the war it was against. As a matter of policy that’s hard to fathom but as a matter of politics, well, there’s something in it for everyone. Congress is on your side no matter what side you’re…
The Gang of Six’s “big solution” to the federal budget sounds a lot like the recommendations of the study commission that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson chaired last year. It makes Democrats mad by reining in entitlements and by raising revenues about $1 for every $3 in spending cuts. It makes Tea Party…
A friend emailed a good question about my earlier blog on Elaine Marshall and Moldova: “Did you attempt to contact Elaine Marshal to find out if her trip was paid for personally or by state funds?…Can you tell me what you did to check this out before publishing it? And what I am missing about…
How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…
Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…
Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had…