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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Risky Business: Taking the Heat for Mayor Meeker?

By Carter Wrenn October 4, 2006

Lately, City Manager, Russell Allen, has been gone from a low-profile to a high-profile city manager. I agree with him on some of the issues he’s speaking out on like the Plensa Plaza. But one result of his new ‘high-profile is he’s got the arts crowd mad at him, the sanitation workers mad at him,…

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Year Round Schools

By Carter Wrenn October 3, 2006

The school board meeting the other night was packed with parents opposed to year round schools. One mother let the ‘chips fall where they may,’ put it bluntly and said “switching to year round schools would force her family to eschew the annual beach vacation.” (News and Observer; 9-26-06). Now, there’s something about all this…

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GOP Family Values, Foley Style

By Gary Pearce October 3, 2006

In the final weeks of the 1994 campaign, smelling a rout, Newt Gingrich blamed Democrats for the moral climate that he said led a South Carolina woman to drown her two children. So Republicans can hardly complain about Democrats hammering away at the Mark Foley affair. Maybe this is the sign that 2006 will be…

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McCorkle Again

By Carter Wrenn October 2, 2006

The Governor just rewarded political advisor, Mac McCorkle (who’s pet line, especially when it comes to the lottery scandal, is ‘I don’t discuss my conversations with the Governor with the press’) with a new appointment. Governor Easley has named Mr. McCorkle Chairman of the North Carolina Progress Board, the state commission Governor Hunt founded to…

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The Rest of Raleigih

By Carter Wrenn October 2, 2006

Raleigh’s North, Northeast and Northwest planning districts accounted for 58% of the city’s growth over the last six years. Compare that to the Central District (downtown): its share was 2.5%. The Mayor’s spokesman, City Manager Russell Allen, says North Raleigh hasn’t been forgotten when it comes to city spending – and adds, as an example,…

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Livable Streets and Traffic Jams

By Carter Wrenn October 2, 2006

Last Wednesday the City’s “Livable Streets” newsletter came out boasting about the groundbreaking of the new RBC Centura Plaza downtown, another huge new mixed use project downtown, four new parking garages downtown – and taxi fares going up everywhere. The next morning I talked to a friend who got stuck in traffic on Glenwood Avenue…

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Taking out the Trash

By Gary Pearce October 2, 2006

It’s hard to tell who’s in charge at Raleigh’s City Hall when it comes to the sanitation workers’ protests. But it sure looks like City Manager Russell Allen has lost the City Council’s confidence. In fact, it looks like the Council – not Allen – made the decision to fire the city’s top sanitation managers.…

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Brad Miller, Sex and Vernon’s Ad

By Carter Wrenn September 29, 2006

Gary, after all the trials and lottery scandals a little dose of sex and politics sounded interesting so when I read your blog (see below) about Vernon Robinson’s new ad about Brad Miller I looked at the copy on factcheck.org. Unfortunately, poor Vernon’s his own worst enemy. He has two legitimate points. Congressman Miller did…

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Shoot the Alligator

By Carter Wrenn September 29, 2006

This is from Dick Morris’ newsletter (“Attack Dog – Bill Threatens Media”) about President Clinton’s interview on the Today Show and his eruption during an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Morris says former President Clinton’s ‘Play Book,’ when it comes to dealing with critics, works this way: “Item one is ‘deny the allegation;’…

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Education Governor

By Gary Pearce March 13, 2025

With a better General Assembly, Josh Stein could join Jim Hunt and Terry Sanford on North…

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The N&O Story

By Gary Pearce March 12, 2025

Once upon a time, there was a great and powerful newspaper: The News & Observer. Everybody…

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How Democrats Win Again

By Gary Pearce March 10, 2025

The shouting, sign-waving and cane-wielding by congressional Democrats at the State of the Union isn’t a…

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