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Delete all those references to former Gov. Mike Easley being weird, says former Democratic strategist Gary Pearce.

We now know that his nocturnal work habits, secrecy and hermit-like lack of public profile stem from his true vocation: espionage, as indicated by his email nom de plume, Nick Danger.

One mystery remains. It’s the Firesign Theater connection. Back in the day on campus, listening to Firesign Theater was a favorite pastime of those who, as they used to say, “experimented” with drugs. And not the kind of experiments that went on in chem lab.  I’m just saying.

Gary Pearce, who helped John Edwards win his U.S. Senate seat knows his stuff.

In a post on the Talking about Politics blog, Pearce had some insight on how Edwards statement acknowledging paternity of his mistress' child probably blunted the impact of the pending publication of Andrew Young's tell-all book.

But Pearce also knows Edwards pretty well. At 9:42 a.m., Pearce wrote:

It’s amazing that with everything going on in the world – the tragic Haiti earthquake and now the Massachusetts political earthquake – Edwards manages to stay in the news.

He’ll probably show up in Haiti next.

By 1 p.m., news outlets had confirmed that, in fact, Edwards was in Haiti.

Democratic consultant Gary Pearce, who helped John Edwards win a seat in the U.S. Senate, said Edwards' contrition should extend to the volunteers who gave time and energy to support his campaigns.

"I would hope he's sincere. Surely he sincerely regrets this and the damage he's caused," Pearce said. "What about the people who worked for him and helped him and gave him money and trusted him? It seems to me that's who he's got to talk to. I think that's a long road to atonement and forgiveness."

Pearce said plenty of North Carolinians travelled at their own expense to Iowa and New Hampshire to work for Edwards.

"That was the thing that he squandered," Pearce said. "He got a whiff of the White House and he went crazy."

Edwards was almost picked to be Al Gore's running mate in 2000, which followed a celebrated defense of Bill Clinton during the Senate impeachment hearings. Edwards would have benefitted from a slower, steadier trajectory to prominence. Having to work harder or learning a little humility from defeat would have helped Edwards, Pearce said. 

"Too easy too far too fast," he said.

Gary Pearce is looking for a ray of sunshine in what he describes as "dark and stormy days" for Democrats.

And Pearce, a Democratic political consultant, thinks he may have found it in the news that conservative commentator and Raleigh publisher Bernie Reeves is considering running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Miller of Raleigh.

Writing on his Talking about Politics blog, Pearce describes a litany of recent headlines about Democrats:

Ruffin Poole takes the Fifth. Mike Easley hires Joe Cheshire. Tony Rand is accused of insider trading. Marc Basnight is forced to defend his political and physical health. Bev Perdue's ratings are low. R.C. Soles faces trouble. David Hoyle is stepping down. Health care reform is in trouble. Obama's polls are down. John Edwards is rated a bigger disappointment than Tiger Woods, for Pete's sake.

But then, Pearce writes, "comes a bright sunbeam of hope and cheer" in the news that Reeves is considering running for Congress.

"Yes, there is a Santa Claus," he writes. "Run, Bernie, run. The comic relief will be welcome."

News & Observer cartoonist Dwane Powell, who has poked, skewered and lampooned political figures and issues for 35 years, retires today.

Powell, who turns 65 this week, drew more than 8,000 editorial cartoons that pointed out the foibles, the contradictions and affectations of the state's elected leaders, Rob Christensen reports.

"It's amazing," said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic operative. "With just a pen and a piece of paper, he could come closer to the truth about politics and politicians than thousands of words. He could really just nail you. Even when he did, you just had to laugh."

Steve Ford, editorial page editor for The N&O, said there were no immediate plans to replace Powell.

In 2007, the N&O put together a video featuring Powell's take on some of his memorable cartoons.

The old Jim Hunt crowd gathered in Raleigh on Friday for the groundbreaking of the library that will bear the former governor's name and for lunch at the Park Alumni Center at N.C. State University, Rob Christensen reports.

The crowd included a who's who from Hunt's 16 years as governor, including Jim Phillips, former chairman of the UNC Board of Governors; former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell; Norris Tolson, a transportation secretary under Hunt; former Ambassador Jeanette Hyde; Hunt's former spokeman and strategist Gary Pearce; former Human Resources secretary Lucy Bode; former Cultural Resources secretary Betty McCain; former aide Ed Turlington, and former state Democratic chairwoman Barbara Allen.

Just to name a few. 

And what would a gathering of politicians be without a little fund raising? 

At the lunch, Hunt announced a $20 million fund raising campaign to help cover some of the costs of the library that will also serve as headquarters for the Institute for Emerging Issues, the think tank Hunt created.

"This is a marvelous opportunity," Hunt said. "It really is."

Candidates critical of a Wake County school diversity policy swept three school board seats in Tuesday's elections and a fourth, crucial seat appears headed to a runoff.

The school board races are nonpartisan, although the Wake County Republican Party endorsed the three candidates who won in those races.

Veteran Democratic consultant Gary Pearce wonders if the strong showing of the "bad guys" is a sign of things to come in next year's Congressional and state legislative election. He said Monday on his Talking About Politics blog that in 1993 Republican Tom Fetzer won the Raleigh mayoral race, the vanguard of what became a big Republican rout.

In 1993, like this year, Democrats had just won the presidential election. They were still celebrating, and they were complacent.

Just like this year, Republicans were angry and motivated. Fetzer (with Carter’s help) found a perfect issue in the downtown civic center. Fetzer ran a modern TV campaign while Democrats ran the familiar old handshake campaign.

It was a sign of worse to come in 1994. And tomorrow may be the canary in the coal mine for 2010.

Should Gov. Beverly Perdue take on taxes?

Gary Pearce says it may be just the issue Perdue, a Democrat, needs to make her mark.

Pearce, in his Talking About Politics blog, writes today that Perdue needs to find an issue that will get more attention than recent announcements she has made on new industries, rural health care and nanotechnology.

"It may be time to stop the short-yardage plays and start throwing for big gains," Pearce writes.

"In fact, it may be time to consider devoting her next two years to what common sense would tell you could be political suicide: sweeping tax reform."

Pearce argues that it takes a big issue to cut through the media clutter these days. He says such an issue could be a tax reform package that ends the state's "boom-and-bust budgeting" and pays for education reforms.

"Right now, Perdue's biggest problem is that nobody really knows what she stands for," he writes. "It's time to find it and stand for it."

Veteran Democratic consultant Gary Pearce suggests a serious look at former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate next year.

Wicker is one of several Democrats mulling a run.

Pearce self-deprecatingly notes in his blog that he made Wicker what he is today: NOT an elected official. Pearce ran Wicker's run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2000: "We took a whipping."

The winner of the Democratic primary that year? Mike Easley.

"Maybe Wicker’s slogan could be: I told you I’d be a better governor than Easley," Pearce wrote.

Pearce praises Wicker for building a successful law firm and describes him as disciplined (noting his considerable and sustained weight loss), hard-working, possessing the right instincts and a master of the legislative process.

Gary Pearce says Ted Kennedy was "both an inspiration and political poison to North Carolina Democrats."

Pearce, writing on his Talking About Politics blog, says Democrats loved Kennedy for the way he unabashedly fought for causes such as civil rights, education and health care.

"But we couldn't afford to be seen in public with him," writes Pearce, a veteran Democratic strategist. "As he became more liberal than his brothers ever were, he became toxic in North Carolina."

Pearce describes the 1980 Democratic National Convention, when Gov. Jim Hunt was supporting Jimmy Carter against a challenge by Kennedy. Pearce said they fought the Kennedy camp all week.

"But the last night of convention Kennedy gave the greatest political speech I've ever heard," Pearce wrote.