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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A Tough Speech

By Carter Wrenn September 3, 2010

When President Obama stared into the cameras Tuesday night he must have felt more than a tremor of foreboding. Nonetheless, he folded his hands in front of him and marched resolutely into the first minefield and announced we’re pulling out (except for 50,000 men) of a war we didn’t win.   There hardly seems any…

The Marshall Plan

By Gary Pearce September 2, 2010

Senator Richard Burr’s ad shows he knows he could be vulnerable. Voters don’t know him or what he’s done.   Which supports Elaine Marshall’s case for getting the $10 million she needs from the DSCC to be competitive.   Senate Democrats are playing defense most everywhere this year. It would be nice to make one…

Government Jobs

By Gary Pearce September 1, 2010

A reader called today with an interesting thought spurred by Richard Burr’s ad.   She took issue with his suggestion that all jobs come from the private sector. She pointed out that government contracts with Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR and a raft of defense contractors sure created a bunch of jobs.   She has a point.…

A Win for Perdue

By Gary Pearce September 1, 2010

Remember the furor last year when Governor Perdue announced that dozens of long-term, convicted criminals might get out of prison early because of an issue over “good time”?   Remember how everybody said what a disaster this would be for her?   Remember how critics said she overreacted by threatening to stand in the jailhouse…

Flight of Fancy

By Gary Pearce August 31, 2010

My friend Damon Circosta, executive director on the N.C. Center for Voter Education, gets an A for effort but an F for persuasiveness.   Circosta, according to Under the Dome, says the flap over Governor Perdue’s campaign not reporting some flights is an argument for “voter-owned” (publicly financed) campaigns. http://projects.newsobserver.com/dome#ixzz0yBS20BU0    The logic goes over…

Resolved

By Gary Pearce August 31, 2010

I’m amused by people who argue that the “mosque” shouldn’t be built near Ground Zero because a poll showed a majority of Americans oppose it.   Well, not along ago I saw a poll that found, for the first time, that most Americans think gay couples should be allowed to wed.   That settles it,…

Only in America…

By Gary Pearce August 30, 2010

…could a charlatan like Glenn Beck (with Sarah Palin as backup) claim that holding his Washington rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s is “divine providence” AND simultaneously claim that an Islamic center shouldn’t be built two blocks from Ground Zero because it offends some people.   Am I the only person who thinks…

‘They did a bad Thing’

By Carter Wrenn August 30, 2010

Over in Afghanistan, according to the newspaper, 25-year-old Khayyam and 19-year-old Siddiqa fell in love;—now Khayyam already had a wife but that wasn’t a hurdle because in Afghanistan men can have four wives; instead the hurdle was his family turned thumbs down on the marriage, plus Siddiqa was already engaged to a relative of Khayyam’s…

Can’t We All Get Along?

By Gary Pearce August 27, 2010

It’s a familiar question. I heard it again not long ago.   My Republican friend/foe Jack Hawke and I were tossing partisan grenades at each other during a panel on this year’s elections.   When it was time for Q&A, the question was: “Can’t the two parties put aside their differences and solve our problems…

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…