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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Light Our Fires

By Gary Pearce September 10, 2010

Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, said this week that the Times eventually will stop printing the paper and go totally on-line. Some say that could come as early as 2015.   Just shoot me now.   Not just because I’ll be one of the final holdouts who will still have a morning…

Roy’s Ploys

By Gary Pearce September 9, 2010

In PR it’s called “getting ahead of the story.”   Roy Cooper has tried it twice on the SBI story. Not happening. The N&O owns this story. Another Pulitzer is in sight. And today the N&O showed Cooper again that it, not he, is driving this train. Yesterday Cooper tried to get ahead by announcing…

It’s the Obama, Stupid

By Gary Pearce September 8, 2010

For a long time, I thought the main driver in this election was the rotten economy.   But the 2010 election instead may be all about the colossus who stands astride American politics today – for better and for worse: Barack Obama.   That thought occurred to me when I read this from Tom Jensen…

Hard to Believe

By Carter Wrenn September 7, 2010

Here’re two peculiar examples of modern economic theory as practiced by the Obama Administration. Both have to do with the President spending ‘Stimulus Funds.’   Alcoa Corporation has a net worth of $12 billion. The Obama Administration gave it $13 million in stimulus funds to pay for renovations at its Cheoah dam on the Little…

A Sea Change

By Carter Wrenn September 6, 2010

The other night at dinner a Democrat (who’s also a lawyer) started talking about growing up in a small town then stopped in mid-sentence and said, You know, that world no longer exists; then, a few mornings later in the News and Observer columnist Froma Harrop wrote about the TV program Mad Men’s aura of…

Storm Warnings

By Gary Pearce September 6, 2010

Democrats remind me of my friends on the Outer Banks last week: battening down, nervously watching the approaching storm and hoping it turns out to be a Category 1 that spares the house – and the Senate.   There are dire warnings of losing the state Senate and possibly even the House – or a…

Carter’s Religious Test

By Gary Pearce September 5, 2010

 In a recent blog, Carter posed some lofty questions to me about religion, like: Are all religions equal? Is Islam a violent religion? And so forth.   I’ve pondered posting some lofty thoughts that might help our readers in their own struggles with these vital issues of theology and faith.   In the end, I’ve…

Hope Springs Eternal

By Gary Pearce September 4, 2010

This headline on a Wilmington Star-News editorial represents the apex of either naïveté or optimism about politics:   “Misleading ads won’t work if voters are savvy.”

Take Off

By Gary Pearce September 3, 2010

It’s Tom Fetzer’s job to run around the state sounding alarms. But it’s not the media’s responsibility to salivate every time he rings the bell.   There is no greater example than the Perdue flight flap. In the end, that looks to be nothing more than a few small licks of flame.   Fetzer did…

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…