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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Gospel Truth? Or Heresy?

By Carter Wrenn March 26, 2021

To get reelected Trump had to win one war: He had to beat Joe Biden with Independents. He failed. But, as we hear Trumpsters say every day, most Republicans are still blindly loyal to Trump. Gospel truth? Or heresy? Forty-four years ago when I managed Ronald Reagan’s first Presidential campaign in North Carolina we fought…

Lyin’ Eyes

By Carter Wrenn March 24, 2021

When I was ten years old walking along a muddy dirt road beside a wide creek at the foot of a hill I glanced down, saw a black tree branch lying in a patch of sunlight in the mud – behind me my gray-haired uncle said, Stop. A snake reared up in the air in…

Shaky Ground

By Carter Wrenn March 4, 2021

President Trump’s spokesman, Jason Miller, declared to Fox News, “Trump effectively is the Republican party.” Years ago conservatives, like Ronald Reagan, rebuilt the Republican party based on conservative principles that reflected the gospels they believed in. That led to battles between Republicans and Democrats on issues. Many of those conservative issues were weapons in Trump’s…

A Mirror: Two Thousand Years Ago

By Carter Wrenn February 24, 2021

Locked in his prison cell in Rome Saint Paul wrote Timothy: In the last days…men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, slanderers, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure… Lying in bed the other night reading that I thought, The end times may be closer than I thought. But it turned out…

The Blessed Silence

By Carter Wrenn January 15, 2021

I remember a thin, tall, blonde boy, back in high school, who’d set his tray on the table in the cafeteria, start talking – and he couldn’t stop; mocking a girl’s dress, a football player’s stammer, a math teacher’s hairdo he’d talk on and on. Trump likes to talk too. Morning, noon and night he’s…

Election Nights

By Carter Wrenn January 13, 2021

In the old days, when we all voted on election day, election nights had a kind of normalcy – votes trickled in, then rolled in, but huge puzzling swings were rare. Then early voting started and unexpected swings began to happen on election nights. For some reason Democrats like voting early while Republicans prefer walking…

Looking Back at Georgia

By Carter Wrenn January 11, 2021

Our nightmare came true. Democrats won the Senate. According to the exit polls more Republicans voted in Georgia than Democrats (Republicans: 38%, Democrats 34%) – which meant if the two Republican candidates each got 50% of the Independent vote, they’d each win by four points. They lost Independents 57-43%. Why? Most people walking around on…

Telling Republicans He Won…

By Carter Wrenn December 11, 2020

President Trump said he won Pennsylvania – but three Republican federal Circuit Court Judges ruled his Pennsylvania lawsuit had “no merit.” Trump appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court – it told him no. Republican judges in Georgia and Wisconsin said no to pro-Trump lawsuits. Trump turned to the Republican Governors in Arizona and Georgia to…

No More Kowtowing

By Carter Wrenn November 24, 2020

Trump tweeted “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it”…four years later he tweeted Biden stole the election – Rudy Giuliani told us vote stealing computers turned millions of ballots cast for Trump into votes for Biden. Fox howled, CNN howled, brawls broke out on Social Media, tweets spread howls like infections; turning against Tucker…

Getting the News

By Gary Pearce March 13, 2026

How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…

MAGA-gator

By Gary Pearce March 12, 2026

Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote…

Enough is Enough

By Gary Pearce March 11, 2026

Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had…