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 2020 candidate you haven’t heard of…yet

By Gary Pearce August 7, 2018

He’s the first announced Democratic presidential candidate for 2020. He’s the first to campaign in all of Iowa’s 99 counties. He has an intriguing personal story. He has what hits me as the right message. And you’ve never heard of him. Because the media hasn’t picked up on him. You read it here first. He’s…

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Politics These Days

By Carter Wrenn August 6, 2018

“If he doesn’t cooperate or get a pardon, he’s going to die in prison,” a former federal prosecutor told the Los Angeles Times, talking about Paul Manafort. The Times also reported that, a month ago, Trump called Paul Manafort’s jailing “very unfair” and that, two days later, Rudy Giuliani said Manafort being treated unfairly was…

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A Democratic wave is coming, but…

By Gary Pearce August 3, 2018

All signs show a big Democratic year coming. Unless Putin hijacks it. Or Democrats blow it. Which we could do. Politics today is volatile. And unpredictable. And subject to last-minute breaks. (See Jim Comey and Hillary’s emails.) But we know the basic shape of the 2018 elections. Democrats are fired up and ready to vote.…

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Everybody Loses

By Carter Wrenn August 2, 2018

The media says Trump, by inflaming them, makes the most liberal Democrats more powerful. But what inflames Democrats isn’t Trump’s ideology – it’s Trump, himself. And when Trump insults and boasts the anti-Trumpsters protest and hurl insults right back – they’re the mirror image of Trump himself, proving the old adage: Those to whom evil…

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Clicking on the N&O

By Gary Pearce July 31, 2018

My print-free experiment with The News & Observer is clicking along well. Still, like any loyal reader, I’ve got some bones to pick. First the good news. Even though I don’t get the paper in my driveway anymore, I still read it most mornings. I click on the website’s E-edition, then flip through the pages…

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Doubt Whispers

By Carter Wrenn July 30, 2018

In the middle of Donald Trump’s campaign against Hillary Clinton, a Playboy model sold the rights to her story about her affair with Trump to the National Enquirer for $150,000 – and when Trump learned what happened he sat down with his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to discuss buying those rights from the Enquirer so the…

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Dogging Trump

By Gary Pearce July 19, 2018

A reader offers this suggestion: If I were a Democratic pundit I would, henceforth, refer to our President as “Putin’s Poodle.” In the first place, it’s true. He respects and trusts Dictator Putin more than he respects and trusts American intelligence services. In the second place, Trump can sure dish it out. You remember —…

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Bert Bennett

By Gary Pearce July 17, 2018

In his terse, clipped way, Bert Bennett once summed up perfectly why we’re Democrats and why he helped elect Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt: “Sanford and Hunt had the right attitude: human dignity, based on ethics and work and not color or background or money.” Rob Christensen’s N&O profile today caught the essence of Bert,…

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Mayor McFarlane and the Stephenson Gang

By Gary Pearce July 12, 2018

Back when Jim Hunt was Governor (the good old days) he routinely had job approval ratings in the mid to high 60s. He was one of the most popular governors in America, until Carter & Co. spent two years and $20 million knocking him down in 1984. Even then, Hunt bounced back into the 60s…

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The View from Iceland

By Gary Pearce November 18, 2024

If you seek political asylum the next four years, try Iceland. We went there last week…

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Recessional

By Carter Wrenn November 11, 2024

The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient…

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Mistakes and Miss-Takes

By Gary Pearce November 10, 2024

Bert Bennett of Winston-Salem, the legendary political godfather to Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, had a…

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