Taylor faces real battle in 11th

A former football star leads in fundraising, and voters are sour on incumbents

It's a political ritual in the mountains of Western North Carolina: Every two years, hopeful Democrats insist that this will finally be the year they unseat U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor.

And then, as sure as the leaves dotting the Great Smokies burst into color every fall, the hard-nosed Republican congressman from Brevard pulls out another win -- usually by casting his latest Democratic target as out of step with the culturally conservative 11th Congressional District.

Taylor is running for a ninth term. And again Democrats are praying 2006 will be the year.

But this time, they might have cause to be optimistic. In fact, some groups that monitor congressional races around the country are calling the contest a "tossup" that could help decide which party controls the House come 2007.

Pundits cite two reasons why Taylor, 65, might have a fight on his hands.

For starters, voters are in a foul mood, which is bad news for incumbents such as Taylor who belong to the party in charge in Washington.

The other reason: Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler, the Democrats' latest hope, is almost as conservative as Taylor on issues such as abortion, immigration and same-sex marriage.

The Swain County-born Shuler, 34, is a member of the National Rifle Association and was wooed by the White House to run as a Republican in Tennessee -- the scene of his glory days as a star for the University of Tennessee.

"The Democrats that have run against Taylor in the past weren't raging liberals, but they took a stand on a few issues that let Taylor call them liberals in disguise," said Bill Sabo, a professor of political science at UNC-Asheville. "That's going to be very difficult to do with Shuler."

But don't think Taylor won't try.

Ties to Pelosi

In recent radio and TV ads, Taylor has tried to tie Shuler to labor unions, trial lawyers and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader from California who will likely be elected House speaker if her party wins back the lower chamber in November.

Campaign finance reports show that Shuler has received $10,000 from Pelosi's political action committee, $10,000 from the trial lawyers' PAC and $215,000 from labor union PACs representing carpenters, teachers, government employees, letter carriers, electrical workers and others.

Shuler prefers to point to another of his $10,000 contributions, this one from the "Blue Dog Democrats" -- moderate-to-conservative Democrats in Congress who stray from the party line on military and social issues.

"Some of the national Democrats know we have a great opportunity to win one of the seats back," Shuler said. "That's why we're getting so much attention -- even if I don't agree with them on a lot of issues."

Shuler's chore, Sabo said, is to win back so-called "Reagan Democrats" by talking like an economic populist -- and looking like a down-home advocate of traditional values.

Or "mountain family values," as Shuler calls them during his frequent campaign trips to rural areas that helped President Bush win 57 percent of the 11th District vote in 2004.

In one TV ad, Shuler scolds Congress for being cozy with big oil companies (resulting in "skyrocketing gas prices") and big insurance companies (so that people "can't afford to see a doctor").

But the images in the ad offer a more conservative message: Shuler's backdrop is a farm, he is flanked by the American and N.C. flags, and the spot ends with him sitting on a front porch, drinking iced tea with a white-haired grandmother.

Shuler has also shown that he is willing to play offense against Taylor. In another TV ad, he blasts the congressman for voting to cut funding for loans for U.S. students even as he inserted money into the federal budget to pay for seven Russian exchange students to take classes at universities in Western North Carolina.