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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Bev Calls the Kettle Black

By Carter Wrenn July 31, 2008

You’ve got to admit it. Bev Perdue’s got chutzpah. The N&O just reported she’s raised $376,293 from PACs to McCrory’s $62,257. What’s she doing? She’s blasting away at Pat McCrory – for raising money from PACs. Maybe McCrory ought to just throw up his hands and say, ‘Okay, Bev, let’s stop right here. I’ll gladly…

‘PUMAs’ Bear Their Claws

By Gary Pearce July 30, 2008

You may have heard of “cougars” – older women who pursue younger men. Now meet “Pumas.” It stands for “Party Unity, My Ass.” They are Hillary Clinton supporters who are still angry. Sign-wielding Pumas confronted DNC Chair Howard Dean when he was in North Carolina last week. They have a website: www.puma08.com. In North Carolina,…

Reagan and Obama

By Carter Wrenn July 30, 2008

Here’s why, in political campaigns, Dick Morris was fun to work with. Dick could look at a poll and within ten seconds get ten ideas. I’ve only met three people like that: Tom Ellis, Arthur Finkelstein, and Dick Morris. Once, sitting in a meeting, Dick was arguing for one of his ideas with a New…

What Would Martin Luther King Make of This?

By Carter Wrenn July 29, 2008

While Kay Hagan’s singing Kumbaya with Republicans, I must be getting more partisan. Because I’m having trouble seeing the Democrats’ side of things. Senator Richard Burr recently sponsored a bill saying the Veterans Administration can’t declare a veteran ‘nuts’ (actually the politically correct term is ‘mentally deficient’) – unless a judge agrees. Burr’s bill sounds…

Bev and the Badgers

By Gary Pearce July 29, 2008

There aren’t too many surprises in the contribution reports from Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory. McCrory’s money is largely coming from Charlotte and the usual Republican suspects. Perdue’s money is largely coming from the East and the usual Democratic suspects. McCrory has Duke Energy, NASCAR and the Downtown Charlotte bank and brokerage boys. Perdue has…

Obama in Berlin

By Carter Wrenn July 29, 2008

I’ve decided to strike another blow for partisanship. Because Barack Obama’s really beginning to trouble me. Not content running for President of the United States, he’s now running for President or Prime Minister or whatever it is in Europe too. And his appeal seems to be intercontinental. Two hundred thousand Germans poured into a Berlin…

Turning Point?

By Gary Pearce July 29, 2008

When the histories of the 2008 presidential race are written, last week may be seen as the turning point. No, the polls won’t show it yet. They may look more like 1980, which was a dead heat between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter until everything broke Reagan’s way the final weekend. Then, as now, voters…

Kay Hagan Rewrites a Little History

By Carter Wrenn July 28, 2008

Sometimes you have to wonder what planet politicians come from. Everyone living on Planet Earth knows the North Carolina Senate isn’t anything like a summer camp of fellowship and bi-partisan comity. For a decade Democratic wheelhorse Marc Basnight has passed down orders and the boys have lined up like a cadre of linebackers and rolled…

Will the Real Politician Please Stand Up?

By Carter Wrenn July 28, 2008

Gary, I’m going to agree. John McCain’s a flip-flopper. The old admiral is zigging and zagging. But a bit of the shine’s rubbing off Obama’s apple too. After a year of telling everyone who’d listen how he’s going to get us out of the war, His Nimbleness just said – in Baghdad, no less –…

Obama 48-Trump 39

By Gary Pearce April 26, 2026

A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…

“Conservative Successes”?

By Gary Pearce April 23, 2026

Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…

Rise and Fall

By Gary Pearce April 21, 2026

A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…