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 Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”

By Carter Wrenn 2009-08-18

Gene Robinson, the respected Washington Post columnist, got the blues the other day, so, to lift his spirits, he kicked Dick Cheney – ripping into ole Cheney for being a torturer, the father of black-ops prisons and generally making him out to be the worst villain of the Third Millennium.   All that led me…

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Health Care As We Know It

By Gary Pearce 2009-08-18

There is an echo of the old welfare debate in the health-care debate. But worse – for Democrats.   Until Bill Clinton “ended welfare as we know it,” welfare was a huge political problem for Democrats. Big majorities of the public – black and white – objected to a program they believed took money from…

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Passion Gap

By Gary Pearce 2009-08-17

In politics as in sports, motivation often separates winners from losers.   In the health care debate now, conservatives and Republicans are far more motivated than Democrats and Obama supporters.   The passion factor has flipped since the election. Then, dispirited Republicans stayed home. Impassioned Democrats lined up at the polls for weeks at the…

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Post Mortem

By Carter Wrenn 2009-08-16

The story of how the state budget got made and passed reads like a plot from a bad Gothic novel.   On page one Governor Perdue is sitting, looking at last year’s budget and dreaming of all the new things she is going to spend money on this year; she dreams and dreams then adds…

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Good Luck Pearce Edwards

By Gary Pearce 2009-08-14

You’ll need it.   Governor Perdue is bringing you from Washington State to save her administration.  She may as well have painted a big target on your back.   At least you’re from here.   You’ll work for a governor who has a reputation for being tough on her staff – and erratic. You’ll be…

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Worth the Risk?

By Carter Wrenn 2009-08-13

We’ve got a whale of a health care war going on – and it’s a pleasure to watch the Congressmen and Senators getting bearded in their own Town Hall Meetings.   In Round One President Obama charged out of his corner and whipped everyone in sight; then, in Round Two, he unexpectedly got rocked back…

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Bev Needs a Dick Morris

By Gary Pearce 2009-08-12

No, not the Dick Morris you see on Fox who apparently came unhinged from working for the Clintons. The Dick Morris who rescued Bill Clinton’s presidency after 1994.   Governor Perdue needs somebody who will do what Morris did then: scour government agencies for a series of popular, bite-sized things she could do by executive…

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Old Gene Autry Movies

By Carter Wrenn 2009-08-12

When I was nine years old my ten year old cousin Jennifer was an Amazon – she could hit a baseball, throw a football and run faster than any boy. When it came time to choose up sides there wasn’t any question whether she’d play with the boys. The only question was which side was…

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ObamaScare

By Gary Pearce 2009-08-11

I’m not surprised Public Policy Polling found that only 54 percent on North Carolinians believe Obama was born in the United States, 26 percent said they do not believe he was and 20 percent aren’t sure.   The poll reflects a fundamental divide about Obama here and across America. It was there throughout the campaign,…

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Trump’s Ordeal – Week 1

By Carter Wrenn 2024-04-22

Trump rolled through two civil trials, hardly blinking, defiant, but at the end of the first…

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For Our Schools: Mo Green

By Gary Pearce 2024-04-18

A teacher I know, who happens to be our daughter Maggie Pearce Dill, said it better…

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The Least Harm

By Carter Wrenn 2024-04-17

Siena College took a poll, Biden crept up, gaining 4 points: Trump 45%, Biden 44%. The…

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