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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Trump’s Speech

By Carter Wrenn January 31, 2018

He couldn’t help doing a bit of boasting and making a slip here and there but in his speech Trump talked about ‘faith and family’ and ‘in God we trust’ and the dignity of ‘hard work’ – then introduced a man from North Korea who crossed China and Southeast Asia on crutches to be free…

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E Pluribus Uniom?

By Gary Pearce January 30, 2018

You’ll need to tell me tomorrow if Trump was “presidential.” I’m not ruining an evening watching him. Surely there’s a quality basketball game on ESPN. Apparently, “presidential” means “reading a Teleprompter without drooling, attacking somebody or grabbing a porn star.” The real State of the Union (“Uniom?”) question is whether Trump and his zealous Javerts…

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Elections have consequences

By Gary Pearce January 29, 2018

After the 2016 elections, a veteran Democrat noted, “If you’re going to win just three statewide races, Governor, Attorney General and Supreme Court are the three to win.” Indeed. Thanks to Mike Morgan’s victory in the Supreme Court race, the Court last week ruled 4-3 along party lines for Governor Cooper against the legislature’s cockamamie…

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What Makes a Wave Election?

By Carter Wrenn January 29, 2018

What creates a wave election? Two things. Here’s one: In 1988, 1990 and 1992 Congressman David Price, a popular Democratic incumbent in a Democratic district, received over 100,000 votes in each election and won easily. Then, in 1994, a wave election came along that favored Republicans. Democrats didn’t vote and David Price received 76,000 votes…

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All politics is Trump

By Gary Pearce January 26, 2018

All politics is local, Tip O’Neill used to say. No more. All politics has become national in the last 20, 25 years. Today, all politics is Trump. Trump so dominates the political conversation there’s not enough air to sustain any other topic. His tweets, his unpredictability and his sheer outrageousness overwhelm everything. If Democratic pollsters…

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China’s 3500 Year History

By Carter Wrenn January 24, 2018

The President slipped four more times in an interview with the New York Times –  he said: 1) Virtually every Democrat has said there is no collusion. 2) I brought (Luther) Strange up 20 points. 3) I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. 4) ‘President Xi… treated me…

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Car deals

By Gary Pearce January 24, 2018

North Carolina offered $1.5 billion, but still couldn’t land Toyota-Mazda. It’s not the first time Alabama beat us on a car deal. Twenty-five years ago, in 1993, Governor Hunt was just beginning his third term. Mercedes-Benz was looking to build a new manufacturing plant in the Southeast. And Hunt was in hot pursuit. The Governor…

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‘I would NEVER…’

By Carter Wrenn January 23, 2018

President Trump’s single most popular tweet in 2017 (according to ABC News) was: Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old” when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ So did Donald Trump, who’s not known for his subtlety, just make a back-handed insult? Or did he just do what he said…

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Proving Fake News

By Carter Wrenn January 22, 2018

The headline roared ‘Donald Trump has combined all the worst qualities of our former Presidents’ and the article by Robert Reich sailed across the Internet but how could it possibly be true? Other Presidents owned slaves. One fought in a duel. Could one man combine all the vices of 44 other men? President Trump is…

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Disaster Duty

By Gary Pearce January 12, 2025

Climate change has changed governors’ jobs. They now must be masters of disasters: floods, fires, hurricanes…

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The Past, Never Past, Just Keeps Repeating Itself

By Carter Wrenn January 10, 2025

The Past, Never Past, Just Keeps Repeating Itself Off and running, campaign racing down the road,…

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Devil’s Whispers

By Carter Wrenn January 9, 2025

One voice roared the man who killed fourteen people in New Orleans was angry because he…

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