Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
One of the many brilliant (that means “Democratic”) readers of this blog has offered what could be a spot-on analysis of Obama’s new strategy on health care. I share it with you in full: “He has leaned back and relaxed and let Mitch McConnell and the screaming chorus shout and work themselves into a…
Read MoreSupporters of health-care reform better hope President Obama’s vacation gave him time to come up with some brilliant strategy. Because he’s losing control of the debate. The vaunted Obama message machine from the campaign is grinding its gears. They have not come up with a winning way to frame the debate. I thought…
Read MoreI spoke to the North Carolina Democratic Party’s annual Sanford-Hunt-Frye Dinner Saturday night. I talked about the “Go Forward” tradition in North Carolina politics, starting with Kerr Scott and running through Sanford and Hunt. We sat at Governor Perdue’s table, which gave me some pause given some of my blogs about her. But…
Read MoreThe commentariet says Ted Kennedy’s tactical skills will be missed in the health-care reform debate. What’s more likely to be missed is his roar. Democrats– including President Obama – lack a loud, clear voice to frame the debate. Like Kennedy did on Robert Bork. Like I heard him do at the…
Read MoreTed Kennedy was both an inspiration and political poison to North Carolina Democrats. We loved him because he was the last link to the glory days of John and Bobby Kennedy, the New Frontier, the Mercury 7 astronauts, the Peace Corps, “pay any price, bear any burden…” and all that. And his voice…
Read MoreGive Governor Perdue credit: She’s not a quitter. She has been a blur of activity since the legislature left. Launching a government-efficiency study. Riding a bus the first day of school. Asking for money-saving ideas. Sending out YouTube videos. Clearly, she has the energy to fight her way back. All she needs now…
Read MoreBill Friday surprised me in our UNC-TV interview when he asked me about the most remarkable characters I’ve met in politics. So I’ve given it more thought. I’ve come down to two people I met during Governor Hunt’s 1984 campaign against Jesse Helms. At different times that year, our campaign was advised by…
Read MoreBack in January when Governor Perdue made a healthcare lobbyist head of the Department of Health and Human Services it looked like she’d slipped and put the fox in charge of the henhouse. But the Governor shrugged it off, saying that whoever Lanier Cansler had lobbied for in the past, ‘He’s now owned 100% by…
Read MoreA strange tale is unfolding over in a courtroom in Hillsborough about madness, an Evil Twin and Alvaro Castillo hearing the Voice of God. When Alvaro Castillo was a teenage boy – he’s now twenty-two – he saw a new version of the movie Romeo and Juliet, set in a modern day city…
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I’ve resisted the temptation to rail every day about Trump’s cruelty, corruption and incompetence – and…
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Jeanette Hyde went from Miss Yadkin County to Madam Ambassador. Hyde, who died Monday at age…
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We’ve heard a lot about stolen votes – but here’s the best way to steal an…
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