Shuler seems to have his head on straight. If the Dims had any brains they’d throw Barry and Hillary under the bus and nominate Shuler. I’d probably vote for him over McCain.
Shuler is only "conservative" as long as it gets him re-elected. He will take the inevitable shift to the left if he becomes a safe incumbent down the line, and he already votes with Pelosi 75% of the time. He's conservative in exactly the areas that he has to be to get elected in western Carolina, and not one area more. (And whatever the case, he's chosen to be an enabler of his party's liberal agenda by simply casting his vote for Pelosi, which is probably the most important thing he's achieved.)
I happened to post some comments about this a few hours ago along with
an article from the Weekly Standard on the Blue Dogs fetching for Pelosi.
If Shuler survives this year, I suspect he'll be groomed to challenge Richard Burr in 2010. If he keeps up this 'conservative' illusion he has going, he could pull it off.
Also, a correction for levotb: Shuler won 75% in the Democratic primary; he got 54% in the general election. He's not the shoo-in for re-election that a lot of people make him out to be.