Starts with Heath Shuler, bitches.
Wow.
Former QB Shuler to run for Congress
By TIM WHITMIRE
Associated Press Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler is mounting a challenge for the U.S. House seat held by Republican Charles Taylor of Brevard.
Shuler, a Democrat who lives in Waynesville, 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.
Taylor, an eight-term incumbent, has been targeted by the state Democratic Party in recent months. The party has released a series of statements attacking Taylor's ethics and under the leadership of new party chair Jerry Meek has created a task force aimed at shoring up Democratic prospects in the western mountains.
Shuler did not name Taylor in a press release that emphasized pocketbook issues.
"Far too many families in western North Carolina are struggling to earn a decent living, educate their children, and pay for health care," Shuler said. "Congress is spending too much time playing partisan politics, instead of working to find solutions to the real problems facing our families."
Shuler was traveling on business Monday and was unavailable for comment, campaign spokesman Randy Flack said.
In 2001, Shuler, then living in Tennessee, declined efforts by that state's Republican Party to recruit him for the 4th Congressional District seat vacated when incumbent Republican Van Hilleary entered the gubernatorial race. Shuler was to hold a fund-raiser for Hilleary that year, but it was canceled because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Flack said Shuler supported Democrats and Republicans while living in Tennessee but is now registered as a Democrat and has never been a registered Republican.
"He grew up a Democrat; his family is lifelong Democrats," Flack said.
Shuler played football at Swain County High School, where he ranked among North Carolina's all-time passing leaders and led his team to three straight state championships. At the University of Tennessee, he was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.
Tennessee head football coach Phillip Fulmer described Shuler as a "people person."
"He was a great ambassador for UT football and he would be a great ambassador for people from North Carolina," Fulmer said.
Drafted in the first round by the NFL's Washington Redskins in 1994, Shuler's pro career never took off. In four-plus NFL seasons with the Redskins and New Orleans Saints, Shuler started just 22 games, throwing for only 15 touchdowns and 33 interceptions.
Since retiring from football, Shuler and his brother Benjie have run Heath Shuler Real Estate, a firm with 250 employees. Shuler and his wife Nikol have a son and a daughter.
Schorr Johnson, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said the party traditionally does not endorse candidates who may face primary opposition.
"That doesn't mean that we don't see the 11th as a great pickup possibility," Johnson said Monday. "Charles Taylor is ripe for the picking. ... From all we've gathered, Heath Shuler will be a very formidable candidate."
Democrats have long blamed Taylor for the loss of thousands of blue-collar jobs in the 11th District. And he has been dogged by ethics controversies, including an extended run-in with the Jackson County tax collector over unpaid taxes on a tree farm Taylor owns, and a criminal trial at which longtime political associates testified that Taylor knew about fraudulent loans made by the Asheville-based bank he chairs, Blue Ridge Savings.
Taylor has denied any knowledge of the loans
