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 Hagan Edge

By Gary Pearce 2009-02-13

How key was North Carolina in the 2008 election? Well, it’s possible the stimulus package might not have passed the Senate if Kay Hagan hadn’t beaten Liddy Dole. The bill passed 61-58, with the help of three Republicans. Without Hagan, the vote might have been 60-59. Cut it that close, and President Obama might not…

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Resegregating Raleigh’s Schools?

By Carter Wrenn 2009-02-12

It’s always seemed there might be a little bit of hoax about the Wake County School Board’s ‘diversity’ policy – that the policy was really about race and not academics (as the board has argued for years). The board has made its case like this: It says it buses students based on their family incomes…

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Heath’s Errant Play

By Gary Pearce 2009-02-12

As an NFL quarterback, Health Shuler had a reputation for making bad throws. As a politician, he may have just thrown himself out of the 2010 Senate race. Shuler voted against the stimulus bill in the House, one of a handful of Democrats to cross party lines on the vote. That’s not inconsistent with the…

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A Strange Cure

By Carter Wrenn 2009-02-11

Most times, to me a Jamaican voodoo doctor rattling chicken bones makes as much sense as an economist, and I’d say there is a greater probability the voodoo doctor’s predictions will come true. The fact is I simply do not understand economics. It’s as much a mystery as astrology. Or tarot cards. Or a scientist…

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Obama Dancing the Two-Step

By Carter Wrenn 2009-02-11

Well, Gary gave President Obama rave reviews about Monday night’s press conference. I had a different – and apparently partisan – reaction. There was a time, not so long ago, when Obama talked a language that sounded a lot like plain everyday English but now, well, he’s taken to talking political-ese. High quality political-ese but…

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Who Cares What Wall Street Thinks?

By Gary Pearce 2009-02-11

So Wall Street wasn’t happy with Obama’s bank-rescue plan. As one of my breakfast pals pointed out: “Didn’t Wall Street get us into this mess? Who are they to complain that the rescuers aren’t doing enough to save them from themselves?” The real question is what the American people think. Public Policy Polling found that…

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Obama in the Minefield

By Carter Wrenn 2009-02-10

Well, it’s like déjà vu all over again. A Democratic congressman stands up, looks the president in the eye and says, I’m not for sending any more troops to fight until I see an exit plan. Only, this time, the president he’s looking in the eye is Obama and the war’s in Afghanistan, not Iraq.…

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The Great Grab

By Carter Wrenn 2009-02-10

President Obama spent a lot of time last election railing against lobbyists. He said when he was elected he was going to tie them in knots. Curtail their mischief. Send them into political exile. But three months later, more than ever, government in Washington is about ‘the great grab.’ Lobbyists for special interests are lined…

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Obama’s Bully Pulpit

By Gary Pearce 2009-02-10

President Obama demonstrated anew last night why he’s a political force not to be underestimated. Congressional Republicans need to reassess picking a fight with a President who is smart, articulate (and clean, as Joe Biden would say). Not to mention one who has the biggest microphone in the world. Obama made his reputation as an…

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A Lost Soul

By Carter Wrenn 2024-04-23

We don’t know much about him – he grew up in a village on the coast…

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Rachel Hunt and MAGA Meltdown

By Gary Pearce 2024-04-23

Two things this past weekend made me feel good about this election. First, I crashed a…

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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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