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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Echoes of 1972

By Gary Pearce March 3, 2008

Hillary and Bill Clinton have come full circle. Their political ambitions now rest where they started in presidential politics 36 years ago, working in a hopeless campaign for George McGovern in Texas. Ironically, the Clintons might see themselves – although they don’t quite say it – as trying to keep the Democratic Party from making…

Cue the Ugly Campaign

By Gary Pearce February 28, 2008

Barack Obama got a taste this week of what’s coming. The picture of him decked out in Somali gear. The McCain emcee who repeatedly called him “Barack Hussein Obama.” The Louis Farrakhan question at the debate. It’s time for the Obama campaign to strap on the seat belts. It’s going to be a rough ride.…

Moore Corruption for Moore?

By Carter Wrenn February 28, 2008

It seems, or at least appears from reading the newspapers, that each successive generation of Democratic leaders in North Carolina is less concerned about rooting out corruption. Former ‘Governor for Life’ Jim Hunt, not my favorite elected official, may have occasionally tolerated a little bit of what a Tammany Hall politician once called ‘honest graft’…

Hilary’s Blues

By Carter Wrenn February 28, 2008

In the beginning was the word. Senator Barack Obama’s rhetoric has accomplished what we Republicans have failed to do for years. He’s undone Hilary Clinton. It understates Obama’s achievement to simply say his rhetoric is articulate. To a certain, surprising, extent American politicians all oddly seem to sound the same. Sometimes listening to, say, Hillary,…

‘Dirty Harry’ vs. ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’

By Carter Wrenn February 28, 2008

The other night, lying in bed, I stopped clicking long enough to watch an old black and white movie. Talk of the Town it’s like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, only with Ronald Coleman appointed to the Supreme Court rather than Jimmy Stewart appointed to the Senate. The good guys (and Jean Arthur, in both…

The Circus Might Not Be Coming

By Gary Pearce February 27, 2008

We apparently got all excited over nothing. North Carolina’s presidential primary may not matter after all. If Hillary Clinton loses Texas next Tuesday – as looks increasingly likely – the air will go out of our balloon. Obama campaign insiders are confident about Texas – and expect a close race in Ohio. Clinton campaign insiders…

Iraq in October

By Carter Wrenn February 27, 2008

Imagine this: Barack Obama and John McCain are debating in October. Senator McCain says: ‘As I said at the time, early in the war we made mistakes in Iraq. But we’ve learned. We’re on the right track. The surge is working.’ Obama says: ‘It that’s correct then tell me one thing – give me one…

Obi-wan Obama

By Carter Wrenn February 26, 2008

Senator Barack Obama told supporters Sunday in Ohio: “I don’t think NAFTA has been good for American’s, and I never have.” But, four years ago, during his Senate race in Illinois, “Obama touted the benefits from United States exports under NAFTA” and the Associated Press reported “that Obama favored pursuing trade deals such as NAFTA.”…

Tarred and Feathered

By Carter Wrenn February 26, 2008

North Carolina chicken king Edgar Marvin Johnson must feel like he’s been tarred and feathered by The Charlotte Observer. If the Observer’s reports are correct it’s hard to imagine even Johnson’s own mother buying a chicken from his House of Raeford Farms. According to the Observer, Johnson is akin to the worst villain Upton Sinclair…

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…