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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The Power of Television

By Carter Wrenn December 28, 2010

Mrs. Edna Street is an elderly lady and a double amputee; last May when she was in the hospital her doctor sent a form to the Department of Health and Human Services asking that she be provided – under Medicaid – in-home care when she went home to convalesce.   The doctor never heard back.…

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Gays and the GOP

By Gary Pearce December 28, 2010

Even Republicans are giving up gay-bashing. But, as always, and to paraphrase Rob Christensen, paradox rules North Carolina politics.   In the last 10 years, North Carolina went from a Republican Senator, Jesse Helms, who bashed “queers” and “the homosexual lobby” to a Republican Senator, Richard Burr, who surprised people by voting to abolish Don’t…

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Barbour’s Blindness

By Gary Pearce December 27, 2010

Of course Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour doesn’t remember race relations “being that bad” in the 1960s; he’s a white guy!   I grew up in the 60s in North Carolina, and I don’t remember race relations being bad at all for us whites. We could go anywhere we wanted and do anything we wanted.  …

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School Wars

By Gary Pearce December 24, 2010

General Tata better bring his helmet.   The new WakeCounty schools superintendent is already taking incoming. He might be starting the job with half of WakeCounty mad at him.   People who don’t like the board’s (sometime) majority welcome his selection like a poke in the eye with a stick: a Fox-commentating, Sarah Palin-admiring, conservative-blogging…

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Hagan’s Conclusion

By Carter Wrenn December 23, 2010

  North Carolina’s own Senator Kay Hagan climbed up on her high horse in the Charlotte Observer the other day and denounced the fiscal irresponsibility of the $858 billion tax-cut bill – which she voted against.   In her op-ed lambasting government spending Hagan thundered:   “On Dec. 1, the bipartisan debt commission released its…

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50 Years Later

By Gary Pearce December 22, 2010

One of my favorite questions to ask people when I’m speaking about my Jim Hunt book is: “How many of you were living in North Carolina in 1960?”   I use 1960 because it was a seminal year in Hunt’s life – and North Carolina’s. It marks a neat half-century, for one thing. It was…

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Blind Loyalty, Blind Justice…

By Carter Wrenn December 20, 2010

Floyd Brown’s a grown man who has the mental capacity of a seven year old boy; seventeen years ago he was arrested and confessed to an SBI Agent who wrote down his confession word for word, that he’d murdered an elderly woman in Anson County when he broke into her home.   He was never…

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In Defense of the Gov

By Gary Pearce December 20, 2010

Chrissy Pearson, Governor Perdue’s communications director, took me to task for my blog “Smile, Gov.” (But she did it nicely. Her email began: “Season’s greetings.”)   I’m happy to oblige any elected official – or their representative – who reads my blog and wants to respond. So here is Chrissy’s full message:   “I’m sorry…

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Jobs, Environment and the Budget

By Gary Pearce December 20, 2010

Two stories on the N&O’s Page One Sunday struck me as related.   One was the fight over a chicken processing plant in Nash County. The other was whether a state government “reset” can balance the budget.   Like many things these days, the linkage hit me because of the work I’ve done on my Jim…

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Education Governor

By Gary Pearce March 13, 2025

With a better General Assembly, Josh Stein could join Jim Hunt and Terry Sanford on North…

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The N&O Story

By Gary Pearce March 12, 2025

Once upon a time, there was a great and powerful newspaper: The News & Observer. Everybody…

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How Democrats Win Again

By Gary Pearce March 10, 2025

The shouting, sign-waving and cane-wielding by congressional Democrats at the State of the Union isn’t a…

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