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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The Real Issue for Perdue and Moore

By Gary Pearce October 30, 2007

If Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue stop sniping over resumes, degrees and ages, they will see the real target in the Governor’s race. And they can remind voters why North Carolina needs a Democratic governor next year. Republicans always say that North Carolina’s schools are failing. Their solution, always, is to starve the schools of…

Student Video Trips Up Edwards Campaign

By Gary Pearce October 29, 2007

John Edwards’s campaign staffers blew it when they blew up over a UNC journalism student’s video story. No more than few thousand people would have seen the original post on YouTube. After the campaign went nuclear, hundreds of thousands saw it. It’s a double whammy for Edwards. First a minor story gets more attention. Then…

Mercedes Drove Us to Incentives

By Gary Pearce October 26, 2007

The News & Observer’s recent examination of economic incentives said “attitudes have changed” here since North Carolina lost Mercedes to Alabama in 1993. Actually, attitudes changed because we lost Mercedes. The story accurately noted that North Carolina didn’t get the Mercedes plant because we didn’t match Alabama’s incentives. The N&O noted that my old boss,…

Bush’s Shadow

By Carter Wrenn October 25, 2007

The Supreme Commander of the U.S. Army in Iraq – from June 2003 through June 2004 – said last week President Bush’s handing of the war has been “incompetent.” Not mistaken. Or flawed. Incompetent. The spinmeisters went to work overnight saying General Ricardo Sanchez’s has a case of sour grapes because he didn’t get a…

Electrifying ElectriCities

By Gary Pearce October 25, 2007

Carter and I started Talking About Politics when we become intrigued by how blogs create an alternative form of political communication. It’s happening on our own site right now – without either of us lifting a finger. Click here to read a post that somebody (we don’t know who) put on our site about ElectriCities…

Rough Sailing Ahead for Hillary

By Gary Pearce October 25, 2007

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is living on a diet of fingernails. The Main Stream Media (MSM) and the Democratic Establishment have proclaimed her the winner. But John Edwards asks the apt question: Did I miss something? Did Iowa already vote? Did we already pick a nominee? History says that no Democratic front-runner sails to the nomination…

Run, Kay, Run

By Gary Pearce October 23, 2007

Even before Jim Neal outed himself, Kay Hagan was looking at getting back in the U.S. Senate race. Now she’s getting more encouragement – from home and from Washington. Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro, had looked at running earlier. She pulled back because Senator Charles Schumer from New York, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial…

Good PR, Bad PR

By Gary Pearce October 22, 2007

I watch “60 Minutes” Sunday nights to see who shines and who fades in the close-up TV glare. The results are often surprising. Valerie Plame and Erik Prince, to take two examples. I was predisposed to like Plame, the outed CIA agent. After all, she’s taken a blowtorch to the Bush Administration. And she looks…

Mr. Peepers Gets Gored

By Carter Wrenn October 22, 2007

As if Robert Escamilla – the ‘Mr. Peepers’ of Enloe High School – didn’t have enough problems after being demoted and publicly tarred and feathered by School Superintendent Del Burns, now, School Board Chairman Rosa Gill, lowering her head, has charged right over him too. Mrs. Gill feels that the students and parents questioning Superintendent…

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…