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Consider this post pure speculation. But Dome noticed this recent report on CBN, a Christian news outlet, about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's upcoming "Faith, Family and Values" tour. The Brody File is told that top faith surrogates will hit the trail for Obama. Some of those high profile figures include Former Indiana Congressman and pro-life Democrat Tim Roemer, Catholic legal scholar Doug Kmiec, and author Donald Miller. You can also expect a soon to be named Evangelical North Carolina (red state) Congressman to travel the country as well. Now, we can't confirm this report, so take it with a...

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., on panel that oversees federal agency - TVA has approved a water-access deal for a development group whose investors include U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., who sits on a committee that exercises oversight of the federal utility. On June 3, TVA CEO Tom Kilgore approved a transaction that provides 145 feet of water-access rights along the shoreline of Watts Bar Reservoir in Roane County to an entity called The Cove at Blackberry Ridge LLC. In exchange, The Cove agreed to relinquish 150 feet of water-access rights in Rhea County and also provide approximately $15,000 for...

A once-promising House target is looking more and more jeopardized for Republicans thanks to a maverick candidate. The GOP nominee to challenge first-term Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) said he has suspended his campaign until half of the counties in the 11th district sign on to his list of “core principles” of the Republican Party. Read whole article here.... http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/shuler-opponent-on-hiatus-2008-07-14.html

Reid Wilson of Real Clear Politics had a column yesterday, "Dems finding success in the center" about how democrats have been having success winning House seats by recruiting "conservative" democrat candidates, and they were following the model again in 2008. While it is true that the democrat party has had success in executing this tactic, this success is due more to their ability to fool the public about these candidates than anything else. Wilson mentioned a few members such as John Barrow of Georgia and Heath Shuler of North Carolina (perhaps better known in the South for his college football...

WASHINGTON (CNN) –- Former President Bill Clinton will attend Sunday church services with North Carolina Congressman and uncommitted Democratic superdelegate Heath Shuler in his district, CNN has learned.

For more than two months, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has denied members of that chamber the opportunity to vote on one of the most important pieces of national security legislation before Congress this year. That legislation is a bipartisan bill passed by the Senate in February that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies which helped the government monitor terrorist communications after September 11. So, House Republicans, led by Reps. Vito Fossella and Peter King of New York, are seeking to get around this obstructionism by employing a "discharge petition." If 218 House members sign the petition, the House would...

[Printable source] When Democrats swept the 2006 midterm elections, several freshman House Democrats won on conservative platforms. A number of these so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats hail from districts that President Bush carried at least once. But the House belongs to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not to Bush, and the Blue Dogs have caught on quickly. On almost every issue, the freshman Blue Dogs have failed to advance their campaign agendas, which were carefully tailored to their moderate constituencies. From the war on terror, to taxes and the budget, to immigration and free trade, the Blue Dogs may talk tough, but they're...

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's remarks about "bitter" small-town Pennsylvanians could make it more difficult for vulnerable House Democrats, many of whom remain uncommitted as superdelegates to the Democratic convention, to back Obama's campaign. A good portion of House members who have not declared their support are moderates and conservatives who represent swing districts dominated by small towns. Republicans, in particular, sought to use the remarks to put two politically-vulnerable Democratic House members on the hot seat. The targets of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee were a pair of freshman Pennsylvania Democrats - Jason Altmire, who represents small towns outside...

A senior adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign was pressed on immigration issues in a conference call with bloggers Friday. John Hawkins, of Rightwingnews.com and Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey inquired about McCain’s support of an immigration enforcement act sponsored by Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler (D.-N.C.) and the influence McCain’s Hispanic Outreach Director Juan Hernandez had on McCain. The blogger call was intended to promote McCain’s upcoming “Service to America Tour” but the campaign took questions on a broad range of issues. Hawkins asked McCain adviser Steve Schmidt about allegations McCain was blocking Schuler’s legislation, titled the Secure America Through Verification...

Candidates for the Republican nomination in the 11th Congressional District slammed Rep. Heath Shuler for comments he made at a speech this week in Hendersonville. Shuler, D-Waynesville, spoke to the Rotary Club on Tuesday and claimed Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was blocking his immigration bill from getting a vote on the House floor. Former Henderson County Republican Party Chairman Spence Campbell, who is seeking the right to face Shuler in the November general election, did not believe Shuler's version of the story. "Who is he kidding? His motivation in saying this is purely political and designed to try...

NEWS RELEASE Heath Shuler Shows Why He Doesn't Belong in Congress BlueRidgeNow, the website of the Hendersonville Times-News, reported on March 26 on an appearance by Rep. Heath Shuler at a Rotary Club meeting in that city, but missed the deeper story that was present. According to the story, Heath Shuler blamed Senator John McCain, a Republican who is not serving in the House, as "blocking" Shuler's SAVE Act which would impose tighter controls on illegal immigration from getting a vote in the House. The Times-News had noted in an editorial on 20 March that "48 Democrats had co-sponsored the...

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler says he believes Republican presidential candidate John McCain blocked his immigration bill from getting a vote on the U.S. House floor. McCain's staff denies it. The Waynesville Democrat spoke to the Rotary Club of Hendersonville on Tuesday. He said the Republican leadership tried to bring the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act to the House floor. They used a provision of House rules called a discharge petition, in which a simple majority can bring to the floor a bill that is stuck in committee. The petition had 181 of the 217 signatures needed to force...

Campaigning in Pittsburgh Friday, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., began her day at a gas station talking about energy. But what fuels her conversations these days are superdelegates, those 800 or so party insiders and elected officials who get a vote at the Democratic Party's convention in Denver this August. If the Democratic nomination battle goes all the way to the convention, those superdelegates could determine which candidate wins the nomination. Clinton's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has gained 50 superdelegates since Feb. 5. Clinton has lost eight superdelegates. Private Dinner at Clinton's Home Trying to win over those who...

John Armor, who is challenging Dr. Carl Mumpower and Spence Campbell in the 11th Congressional District GOP primary, has a little story: "I knew Nancy Pelosi when her name was D'Alesandro, and she was the daughter of one Baltimore Mayor and the sister of another. "The D'Alesandro Machine in that City, then, was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Under no circumstances would I ever vote to make someone as politically defective as Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House of Representatives. And that is just the first great difference between me and Heath Shuler." Armor also told Katy's...

Many of you who read these columns know I ran for Congress in 2006. It was in the primary against a 16-year incumbent named Charles Taylor. Given just that information, you’re not surprised that I lost, getting just 20% of the vote. I was not surprised, either. But 2008 is a different kettle of fish. I was right, by the way, about the end of Taylor’s career. I said he was at the end of the line. He was. He got beaten soundly by a Democrat whose claim to fame was that he once played football. Heath Shuler’s the name....

You’d think that what happens in western Carolina, in the 11th Congressional District, isn’t very important to the powers-that-be in Washington. That’s usually so. But not now. And two extraordinary events that have occurred a year and a half before the 2008 election for that seat, prove the point. Some of you are aware of the TV ads now being run by AFSCME that paint freshman Congressman Heath Shuler, NC 11th, as a good guy. The ad sponsor’s full name is American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. This union is committed to steady expansion of government at all...

WASHINGTON – The significance of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi's election as the first female Speaker of the House was not lost on the newest member of North Carolina's congressional delegation, Rep. Heath Shuler. "It was a milestone, and to be able to tell my daughter that she was there is quite significant," said Shuler, D-11th, as he walked back to his office, navigating the underground tunnels of the Capitol. Shuler's vote on Pelosi's bid to become speaker was watched by many yesterday because he repeatedly deflected questions about whether he would support Pelosi when he was campaigning against Rep. Charles...

Former University of Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler has joined a new team that could be called the Conscience of the Congress. Instead, they named themselves the Blue Dog Coalition: 44 male and female moderate and conservative House Democrats. The group was formed in 1995 when a minority of the House Democrats felt they were choked blue by the extreme members in both parties. Among their top priorities now that Democrats are regaining House control is to push for reduced spending levels, budget offsets if there is any increased spending or more tax cuts, and significant cuts in annual budget deficits...

Former University of Tennessee and NFL quarterback Heath Shuler, again in the national limelight as a new member of Congress, has big plans for trying to help his western North Carolina district and his country. "There's so many things that we have to straighten out and fix," the 34-year-old Democrat said in an interview. The last time he took a high-profile job in Washington was 1994, when he left UT's football program after three years to accept a top draft pick of the Redskins. He stayed three years before joining the New Orleans Saints. Now the voters in North Carolina's...

First, wait and watch a while. An analysis of the results indicates that the recent election was not a turn to the left, but more likely a turn to the right. Many liberal Republicans lost, and many of the new Democrat House members ran on conservative platforms. We have been asking for years where all the Jacksonian Democrats have gone; perhaps a new generation is back. Liberals have been known to hide their true agendas, so we will have to see what happens.

Lost in the fact that former first-round NFL draft bust Heath Shuler won a Congressional seat in North Carolina is the fact that Shuler generated only a 16 when he took the 50-question Wonderlic test as an incoming player. The exam is routinely administered at the scouting combine in February. Players have 12 minutes to complete the exam. Titans quarterback Vince Young initially generated a seven earlier this year, but was permitted to re-take the test. The reports of Young's low score prompted yours truly to administer a 15-question sample test to Florio Jr., who was nine at the time....

That title is not a misprint. This is about the 2008 election in the 11th District of North Carolina. First, the big picture now. The Democrats have taken control in the House, contrary to my prediction (I was nearly alone in that). The Democrats have gained in the Senate, but pending results yet to come after midnight EST, it looks like the Republicans will hold a vary narrow margin in the Senate. In my own District, NC 11th, 16-year incumbent Republican, Charles Taylor, has been defeated by Heath Shuler, a neophyte Democrat who billed himself as “a conservative” and a...

After opponent's no-show, Shuler walks out of House debate TIM WHITMIRE Associated Press ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Frustrated by Rep. Charles Taylor's failure to show up in person, Democratic challenger Heath Shuler walked out of a debate Friday afternoon that was the only face-to-face meeting scheduled between the two candidates during their fiercely contested campaign. Taylor called into the debate on WWNC-AM from a radio station in Hendersonville, about 30 miles south of Asheville, which radio host Matt Mittan said violated rules agreed to beforehand by both campaigns. After both candidates offered an opening statement, Shuler said, "It's unfortunate Mr. Taylor...

Charlotte, NC -- A real estate brokerage house associated with Democratic House candidate Heath Shuler belatedly paid over $69,000 in unpaid taxes Friday after The Associated Press raised questions with the campaign. Shuler, a former star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, has a 20 percent stake in the Knoxville-based business, Heath Shuler Real Estate, which he founded with his brother, Bengie, in 1998. They sold it in 2003 to four men who formed HSRE and HSRE Properties. A recent AP review of tax records in Knoxville and surrounding Knox County found the businesses had been chronically delinquent in paying...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In the mountains of western North Carolina, former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler talks about illegal immigration and the Iraq war as he tries to oust Republican Rep. Charles Taylor in one of the more competitive House races. Thousands of miles away, in San Diego, Jason Woodmansee fears a crucial issue is being overlooked. "From an objective, quantitative viewpoint, Shuler was a terrible NFL quarterback," Woodmansee writes on his blog, http://www.StopShuler.com. "He completely failed at the one thing he was trained to do out of college, and yet was paid millions of dollars. The last thing we need...

Former University of Tennessee and NFL quarterback Heath Shuler won a congressional Democratic primary Tuesday in North Carolina. Shuler notched 77 percent to beat Michael Morgan, with 62 percent of votes tallied. He'll face Republican incumbent Charles Taylor, representing the 11th District, who handled opponent John Armor by taking 81 percent of the votes tallied. Shuler is expected to give Taylor, a veteran representative criticized for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a strong run on the general ballot. Taylor, however, has survived a number of Democratic challenges during his 16-year tenure. "This is the year," Shuler said Tuesday...

Folks, Two of my campaign appearances since the 1st Report are unique and deserve mention here. One was with a group of left-wing Democrats, who refer to themselves as "progressives." The invited me to see if I would dare join them, for two hours of pointed questions. I accepted, and the comments posted on the Internet as a result made it clear that they intend to see me defeated, come November. But they also included comments that I am "honest" and a "man of obvious integrity." When even your political opponents speak of you that way, that is a very...

After weeks of cajoling from high-ranking Democrats — including former President Bill Clinton — former football star Heath Shuler announced Monday that he would challenge Rep. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) next year.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Former National Football League quarterback Heath Shuler plans to run for the U.S. Congress. Shuler, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday that he has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission that clear the way for him to run next year in the 11th Congressional District for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by Republican Charles Taylor. Shuler didn't name Taylor in a press release that emphasized pocketbook issues.