Shuler says he's in D.C. for N.C.

WASHINGTON -- North Carolina's newest congressman took the oath of office Thursday, pledging to serve the conservative voters in his Appalachian district, not the national Democratic leadership that helped propel him to the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Heath Shuler of Waynesville ended years of Republican reign in Western North Carolina when he unseated powerful GOP maverick Charles Taylor in November in the 11th Congressional District.

Now Shuler, a North Carolina native and former Washington Redskins quarterback, has to prove to his constituents that he won't become beholden to the party that recruited him, offered him significant financial backing and coached him with visits to Washington and encouragement from dignitaries such as former President Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

"The Democrats are not the reason I'm here," Shuler said Thursday. "The votes of the people of the 11th District is why we're here. I helped the national party. They helped me."

Shuler begins work wearing a bull's-eye, a certain target for national Republicans gunning to regain the seat in 2008.

"If he hasn't started [running for re-election] already, it's a little too late," said William Sabo, a political scientist at UNC-Asheville.

Perhaps Shuler's most significant move so far has been to open his district office so he can begin constituent services for voters, Sabo said.

"He has to develop a sense of trust here," Sabo said.

But part of the problem with Washington, Shuler said, is the constant focus on the next election.

"Too many people are campaigning," he said. "We're not a campaign office; we're a congressional office."

Back in the D.C. game

Shuler drove into Washington Tuesday night with his family, following Constitution Avenue downtown, the way he used to drive to Redskins games.

"I wanted to get here at night," he said, "because you get the illumination of the Capitol, the Washington monument."

He stopped at a red light and pointed out the Capitol to his 5-year-old son, Navy: "See that building? That's Daddy's new office."

On Wednesday morning, staffers tried to figure out the phones, communications director Andrew Whalen hunted up pens, and someone from North Carolina called wanting tickets to the White House.

Whalen guided his boss from interview to interview to interview. There was the ABC affiliate from back home, another hometown newspaper reporter, a five-person crew from a Japanese news agency, a live shot with Fox News.

"Wow, the first football question in two hours," Shuler told Whalen, removing his microphone after a Fox anchor asked his Super Bowl prediction. (New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts.)

Back in the office, a federal employee wheeled in a stack of orange boxes, one taped with a handwritten sign: "Old, Charles Taylor. New, Heath Shuler." Inside were the spoils of victory: a congressional pager, access codes.

A busload of friends, family and volunteers from North Carolina rode up Thursday to visit with Shuler, tour his still-chaotic office and gather at an evening party in his honor near Capitol Hill.

"He seems like a good, honest person," said Clyde McIntosh, a longtime Yancey County Democrat who helped Shuler raise money. "We just feel like we can get more good out of him."

Playing defense

In a way, Shuler represents the new, more moderate Democratic Congress.

The man who once called himself an "old-timey, Southern Democrat" leans to the right on many social issues, including abortion, gun-control and illegal immigration. He already has joined the Blue Dogs, a coalition of conservative Democrats, and said he is working with members to develop pay-as-you-go legislation to tackle the national debt.