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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Mark Robinson’s Slipping

By Carter Wrenn September 4, 2024

After Mark Robinson announced for governor, he led Josh Stein in polls. Then Stein pulled even. Then Robinson trailed by five. In a poll last week Robinson trailed by fourteen. Some folks say the problem’s Robinson’s stand on abortion. And, yes, that could hurt him. But when Congressman George Holding got attacked by Democrats for…

Something You Don’t See Often

By Carter Wrenn September 2, 2024

You don’t see many people like James Lankford – getting along with both sides in a divided world he tells people ‘Your faith should affect everything you do. It’s how I treat my wife. It’s how I treat strangers. Every person’s created in the image of God. They have value and worth. As I joke…

Beware of Darkness

By Gary Pearce September 2, 2024

August was a month of joy and hope for Democrats. But darker days lie ahead. In September and October, politics – like the weather – will grow colder, darker and meaner. Republicans will do what they always do: appeal to hate and fear. They’ll run the dark TV ads and roll out the scary mailers…

The Brawl

By Carter Wrenn August 30, 2024

The last time delegates sitting in a convention picked a candidate for President was 48 years ago. Those days are gone – now conventions mirror Broadway productions. In Milwaukee, country singers sang, rappers danced; in Chicago, Pink sang, Oprah spoke. But back in 1976, Gerald Ford led Ronald Reagan by a handful of votes at…

Odd

By Carter Wrenn August 28, 2024

Doing an interview on Fox Trump told Brian Kilmeade it’s a little known fact that the press doesn’t want to talk about, but Biden ‘sent comrade Kamala to see Putin in Russia three days before the attack’ on Ukraine, added Putin ‘laughed at her – he thought she was a joke.’ After the interview Ainsley…

 Policy, Schmolicy

By Gary Pearce August 28, 2024

The media says Kamala Harris has to answer their questions about policy. No, she doesn’t. Harris has said more about policy in the last month than Trump has in nine years. She talked about policy in her economic speech in Raleigh and her acceptance speech at the Chicago convention. She spoke to every issue: cost…

Obama Cutting his Eyes…

By Carter Wrenn August 26, 2024

Watching Obama speak last Wednesday night I had a flashback – back in 1984 when Senator Jesse Helms trailed Governor Jim Hunt by 25 points we attacked Hunt and attacked Hunt and got nowhere. Hunt ran his first TV ad: Standing in a field talking to farmers, oozing empathy, at the end of the ad…

Flag, Family, Freedom and Football

By Gary Pearce August 26, 2024

Democrats have seized the symbols of American patriotism this election. Flags filled the hall the night Kamala Harris accepted the nomination (photo). She told the story of her family – and how she’ll fight for our families. She vowed to fight for freedom: “(W)hen Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of…

Roy Raises the Roof

By Gary Pearce August 24, 2024

I’m old enough to remember when Democrats worried that Roy Cooper wasn’t a strong public speaker. Then there he was Thursday night: in the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention, the final speaker before Kamala Harris. He gave a rousing five-minute speech that brought the crowd roaring to its feet. He told how Harris, as…

Obama 48-Trump 39

By Gary Pearce April 26, 2026

A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…

“Conservative Successes”?

By Gary Pearce April 23, 2026

Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…

Rise and Fall

By Gary Pearce April 21, 2026

A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…