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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Biden Politics

By Carter Wrenn July 2, 2024

Biden opened the border, plummeted in polls, trailed Trump – about facing got tougher on the border. Next he got hit by backlash coming from angry progressives – holding out an olive branch, straddling the fence, he handed half a million illegal immigrants, who’d married Americans, a way to stay and a pathway to citizenship.…

Signs

By Carter Wrenn July 1, 2024

Out to save the world from climate change, crossing a green field carrying canisters, a troupe of English protestors spray painted Stonehenge orange. Smiling, laying down canisters, they sat down on the grass in front of a stone monolith painted orange and had their pictures taken. Silent, towering, Stonehenge stood untouched since before King Arthur,…

Get Real

By Gary Pearce July 1, 2024

To Democrats who say President Biden should “step down,” I ask: What happens next? Will a magical mystery messiah emerge, unite the party in a month and march to victory 18 weeks from tomorrow? Or will there be division, a bitter battle and a contentious convention like 1968, which led to Nixon, and 1980, which…

Joe Got Back Up

By Gary Pearce June 30, 2024

“When you get knocked down, you get back up” – President Biden in Raleigh Friday. After the debate, President Biden stopped by a Waffle House in Atlanta (photo), flew to Raleigh, gave a barn-burner of a speech Friday and got back in the fight. N.C. Democrats rallied around him, and he rallied Democrats across the…

A Defining Moment

By Carter Wrenn June 28, 2024

The debate ended. The first commentator on CNN said the question now is will Democrats be able to get Biden to step aside. Face bewildered, vacant, Biden showed voters their biggest fears about him are right. He did so poorly Trump didn’t seem to matter. The debate left even Biden supporters shaking their heads. Biden…

The Debate

By Gary Pearce June 28, 2024

Did President Biden have a bad night? Hell yes. Did Trump convince anybody who wasn’t already for him that he should be President again? Hell no. He reminded us that he’s a serial liar, a convicted rapist and a crook from Queens who’s out on bail. He reminded us why we can’t let him and…

Debates

By Carter Wrenn June 27, 2024

Debates can turn a campaign on its head. My book, The Trail of the Serpent, is going to be published in August. I tell stories about politics from Reagan’s campaign against President Gerald Ford through Trump and Biden. One story is about Jesse Helms’ first debate with Jim Hunt in 1984. In Jesse’s campaign we…

Outside Money Talks in NC

By Gary Pearce June 27, 2024

How rotten and corrupt is campaign financing in North Carolina? Worse than you think. Capitol Broadcasting Company has exposed the impact of outside money – “dark” money, from anonymous big-money donors – on our elections. They term it “astonishing” in a series released this week. CBC Editorial reports, “Increasingly, the money influencing North Carolina elections…

Vengeance and Forgiveness

By Carter Wrenn June 26, 2024

Reading about Trump, Biden, politicians, in newspapers is like watching two warring camps – that hate each other. At rallies gripping the podium Trump tells Trumpster’s: ‘I am your retribution’ – forgiveness flies out the window. We’ve walked down this road before. Back in 1865, watching the South collapse, to sow seeds of forgiveness Abraham…

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…