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.

CarterWrenn200x271

Carter Wrenn

Gary Pearce 2024

Gary Pearce

Archives

Categories

Obama-care and Perdue-care

By Carter Wrenn August 16, 2010

Seven hundred fire breathing Democrats gathered in Fayetteville for their convention and just about came to blows over reading the riot act to three Democratic Congressmen who had the sheer audacity to vote against Obama-care.   What saved the poor Congressmen from humiliation (or perhaps mutilation) was one of their more adroit supporters standing up…

Gary’s Taking a Break

By Gary Pearce August 16, 2010

This website is going to tilt right this week. I’m going to the beach.   On the agenda: golf, reading, napping, seafood and spirits, swimming and jogging (to make up for the seafood and spirits).   Not on the agenda: blogging.   I’ll be back August 23.   Don’t let Carter warp your mind while…

Ethics North Carolina Style

By Carter Wrenn August 13, 2010

As House Democratic Leader Joe Hackney and House Republican Leader ‘Skip’ Stam watched beaming, Governor Perdue signed the states latest ‘Ethics Law.’   Hackney then said it was wonderful that Democrats were cleaning up the mess in state government, and Stam said it was a shame the Democrats had created the mess in the first…

The Will of the People

By Gary Pearce August 13, 2010

Some people must have superpowers.   How else can they divine “the will of the people” all by themselves?   Frequently, people comment here that Obama and the Democrats are defying “the will of the people” or “the majority.”   I hate to break it to you, but under our beloved Constitution the only way…

Immigrants and Gays

By Carter Wrenn August 13, 2010

Federal judges have turned out to be President Obama’s worst nightmare; first a Clinton judge in Phoenix threw out Arizona’s immigration law and landed Obama in the middle of a political war over the next to last issue he wanted to fight over; then a judge in California landed him in an even worse fight…

NC-SBI

By Carter Wrenn August 12, 2010

Over in Davie County a dentist tells the District Attorney his wife stabbed him with a spear, then he stabbed her back with his pocket knife, and she died; the DA calls in the SBI’s Chief ‘Blood Splatter’ expert to figure out exactly what did happen; two investigators stare at the bloodstains on the husband’s…

Running Hard

By Gary Pearce August 12, 2010

If you think running for office is easy, you should have seen Rep. Grier Martin yesterday.   The heat index on my street in Raleigh’s North Ridge was somewhere north of 100 degrees. And here came Grier, drenched with sweat through his knit shirt, his khaki slacks and shoes.   He was going door to…

The GOP Show

By Gary Pearce August 11, 2010

North Carolina Republicans are a long way from winning this fall’s legislative elections, but they’re winning the battle of perceptions.   And that battle has big implications for fundraising.   Three sources have told me in the last week that the Republicans’ presentations on their prospects for the fall are blowing away the Democrats.  …

Ugly Facts

By Carter Wrenn August 11, 2010

Not long after we took up the burden (or had it forced on us) of fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq we decided ‘Democracy Building’ (wherever our army went) sounded like a noble idea.   And no doubt it was noble but nearly nine years later we’ve had an education and learned not everyone agrees.…

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…