Here are a few tidbits we’ve picked up the past couple of days on what U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler and his old nemesis, Charles Taylor, have been up to lately:
First, the Mountain Xpress picks up on an Asheville Tribune two-part “interview” with Taylor. We put interview in quotes because it was really a speech by Taylor, in which he still didn’t say definitively whether he was in or out as a challenger to Shuler, who beat Taylor last year to win the 11th Congressional District seat. Tribune boss Bill Fishburne says he thinks Taylor’s out.
The Charlotte Observer reports that a congressional honcho in Washington also hasn’t heard the final word from Taylor:
The head of the U.S. House Republicans’ campaign arm says he still doesn’t know if former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor plans to try to regain his seat from U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler. U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said last week he hasn’t spoken directly to Taylor and doesn’t want to try to force a decision. But he does want a candidate. The Oklahoma Republican said he’s optimistic about the district, which his party believes is solidly GOP. (Lisa Zagaroli, THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/29/07).
And finally, Congressional Quarterly reports that Shuler still hasn’t learned anything about quarterbacking in Washington:
U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler’s dark days as quarterback for the Washington Redskins may not be as far behind him as some members of Congress may have hoped. In the congressional football game last week against a Capitol police squad, the Waynesville Democrat threw two interceptions and his team didn’t put a single point on the board, a Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, reports. The event raised $30,000 for the families of officers killed in the line of duty.