Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Being a stubborn old man myself, I didn’t want President Biden to quit. I was wrong. I feared the Democratic Party would descend into civil war. I was wrong. I feared Vice President Kamala Harris wouldn’t be a strong candidate. I was wrong. I’ve never been so glad to be so wrong. I’ve never seen…
Raising more money, making stronger ads, Republicans once had an edge over Democrats in elections. But, of course, over time Democrats learned from their mistakes. Kamala Harris just raised $200 million in one week – no Republican’s done that. For years Republicans’ flashy ads full of melodrama worked but voters have now seen so many…
Winds change and without warning politics changes: In 1980 Reagan and Carter were running neck and neck ten days before the election – winds changed, Reagan won 44 states. Sitting in my office ten years later during Jesse Helms’ Senate campaign our pollster pointed to one question in his poll: 80% of the voters disagreed…
No one saw it coming: Running for governor, neck and neck with Josh Stein, Mark Robinson just got upended. Robinson’s family business – Balanced Nutrition – is paid by the state to provide meals for needy children in day care centers. Robinson’s wife, who runs the company, makes $160,000 in salary. Robinson, his son, daughter,…
Like President Biden, Governor Roy Cooper put party and duty ahead of personal political ambition. The President did it when he stepped aside for Vice President Kamala Harris. The Governor did it when he stepped away from VP consideration. This is key from his statement: “This just wasn’t the right time for North Carolina and…
There was ice in the room the first time I met Gary Pearce – we stared at each other across a polished table in a conference room negotiating the Helms-Hunt debates. That campaign was brutal like a prize fight but, at the same time, sitting around that table people on both sides were polite to…
Home-state pride aside, there are four good reasons Vice President Kamala Harris should pick Governor Roy Cooper. First, together they can carry North Carolina, and Trump can’t win without North Carolina. In 2020, Trump beat Joe Biden by only 1.3% here, and Cooper won reelection by 4.5%. If Cooper – by far the most popular…
With one tweet last Sunday afternoon, President Biden transformed the 2024 race – from a same-old, same-old election to a stark choice between past and future, hate and hope, grievance and progress. Suddenly, only one party is trying to elect an 80-year-old President who mixes up names, mangles his thoughts and looks to be in…
Climbing out on a limb the New York Times led the charge to get Biden out of the race. The day after Biden got out the Times published a chart ranking ten Democrat candidates from the most likely to least likely to beat Trump. At the top of the list was Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro…at…
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…