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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Get Out and Get Osama

By Gary Pearce June 27, 2007

It’s time for Democrats to think ahead about the terrorism issue. Today we’re riding a wave of public support for getting out of Iraq. That tide makes 2008 look like a good year. But a lot can happen. George Bush could announce in September that we’ll be out of Iraq next year. Or America could…

Bloomberg

By Carter Wrenn June 26, 2007

At first, I was a little intrigued by Michael Bloomberg’s running for President as an Independent. After all, the Republicans (at least the ones in the White House) have joined Ted Kennedy on immigration and the Democrats have marched so far left Hillary’s now a moderate, so I thought, maybe, shaking up the two-party system…

Odds and Ends

By Carter Wrenn June 26, 2007

It’s perplexing. How could Vice President Cheney not understand that when he said he was not a member of the Executive Branch just about everyone in America was going to look at him and say, Huh? Cheney may have a hoary legal point. But he just surpassed Dan Quayle’s misspelling potato when it comes to…

Why Tony Blair Is Better Than George Bush

By Gary Pearce June 26, 2007

First, Blair is better because he’s smarter. And he can talk sensibly. Blair did what Bush never could do: articulate a persuasive case for invading Iraq. But in the end it didn’t help Blair. For all his brains and glibness and media mastery, he leaves office unpopular and unmourned. Because of Iraq. That’s the main…

Oh, Johnny Boy

By Carter Wrenn June 25, 2007

It may be a coincidence but just as John Edwards is redirecting the focus of his campaign away from the war and back to his crusade against poverty, the New York Times has published a scathing report about Edwards’ anti-poverty foundation, the Center for Promise and Opportunity. The Times reports, “The main beneficiary of the…

Ms. Pelosi, Work and Junkets

By Carter Wrenn June 25, 2007

Nancy Pelosi, during the honeymoon after being elected the first woman Speaker ever, promised she was going to put the members of Congress to work after their indolent year under the Republicans. Then she set a schedule for House sessions this year. That gave members twenty weeks off (Dick Morris Reports, 6-20-07). No corporation can…

Get Rid of the Primaries

By Gary Pearce June 22, 2007

Could we have designed a worse system of nominating presidential candidates than the primary mess we have today? You need an Excel spreadsheet just to keep up with which state is holding a straw poll, primary or caucus when. And which states are moving theirs up, which will force Iowa or New Hampshire or Lower…

An Activist’s Nightmare

By Carter Wrenn June 22, 2007

Here’s an activist’s nightmare. He – or she – camps out on the lawn of the State Legislature in the June heat for 51 hours with a ragtag band of fellow demonstrators alongside a troop of plastic hogs, piles of artificial hog manure and a baby wading pool full of the real thing (to send…

Bloomberg’s Humbug

By Gary Pearce June 22, 2007

The last time a short billionaire with an ego to match his checkbook ran for President, he helped elect Bill Clinton. So I’m intrigued by Michael Bloomberg running in 2008. I’ll feel different if polls show he hurts Democrats more than Republicans, of course. But, really, Bloomberg’s whole message is a sham. Elect me, he…

“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…

Rolling Down the Elbe

By Gary Pearce April 19, 2026

Gwyn and I just returned from a 12-day journey through 1,000 years of history in Germany…