A couple of months ago, former Swain County High School footbal star Heath Shuler, who grew up to play ball at the University of Tennessee and then professionally, we noted that Shuler said he was considering a run against congressman-for-life U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor.
Here’s an update, from Roll Call:
Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler (D) will decide in the “next couple of weeks” whether he will challenge Rep. Charles Taylor ® next year, Shuler friend and adviser Randy Flack said in an interview this week.
Shuler has been mulling a bid for a couple of months, and Democrats are salivating at the prospect of the star power of his candidacy.
Shuler, who did a three-year stint with the Washington Redskins in the mid-1990s, could also spend some personal money if he entered the race.
In late 2003 he moved to western North Carolina but still owns a real estate business based in Knoxville, Tenn.
A multimillionaire who primarily self-finances his campaigns, Taylor has been targeted by national Democrats in recent years but has continued to win re-election handily. Last year, he beat Buncombe County Commissioner Patsy Keever (D) 55 percent to 45 percent.
-Lauren W. Whittington, Roll Call reporter
As you may have seen last week, Taylor was one of seven House members targeted by the DCCC in a series of print ads. It was a coordinated attack on Republicans, although hardly any money was spent (about $150,000, I think). It was an agenda-setting move now by Democrats looking to next year’s mid-presidential term elections to start making it all about ethics, although I’m not sure what Taylor ethical issue Dems were picking at with the ads.
WNC Democrats have struggled for more than a decade with how to topple Taylor in a district that has been more and more conservative. There were a string of old guard, more liberal Democrats. That didn’t work.
So the Dems turned to former WLOS personality-turned-politician Maggie Lauterer, whom everyone thought had a great shot. Hell, she’d been a TV for years and everybody loved her mountain stories. She turned out to be a green politician and lost.
There were a few other weak attempts, then Hooterville attorney Sam Neil turned up the heat and just attacked, attacked, attacked. Taylor, a little bruised, survived.
Now Dems are turning to Shuler, who has the star power, the money and is probably just as conservative politically as Taylor. Word is Shuler even campaigned alongside some Tennessee Republicans a few years ago to lend them his celebrity.
But Taylor has worked his way into a powerful position on the House appropriations committee, and with Republicans now in control of the White House, the Senate and the U.S. House, I don’t see how he can be beaten. He’s bringing home all kinds of pork. Every rural fire department has tasted some of it. The VA Hospital has been a Taylor pet project for years. And now he’s focusing more of his attention on internet connectivity with an aggressive plan to bring tech jobs to the mountains.
Here’s my prediction: Shuler will run. The Democrats are that desperate. There are no other candidates waiting in the wings – they’ve all cleared the way for him. Time is running out. Traditionally, candidates declare their intentions by the Labor Day weekend and start the long, hard slog toward Election Day 2006.
But barring any major missteps on Taylor’s part, Tyalor will win an eighth term.