U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler is again playing in the Congress vs. Capitol Police football game, which raises money for families of three officers killed in the line of duty.
Shuler's office notes that he formerly played quarterback for the University of Tennessee.
In its release, the office declines to mention his short-lived stint with the Washington Redskins (who this year are pretty abysmal). It also fails to re-live a past Congress vs. Capitol Police game in which Shuler threw a pair of interceptions. The bipartisan congressional team lost that one.
Still, he's on again for the game scheduled for 8 p.m. Tuesday. The game, called The Longest Yard, is flag football and will be played at the D.C. Armory.
"The Capitol police do have bragging rights since they won the last game," said Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, in a release. "No matter the final score of this game, the Capitol Police Memorial Fund wins."
Money, meet mouth
Republican congressional candidate Will Breazeale is putting his money where his mouth is, personally guaranteeing a term limit pledge.
Breazeale, who is making his second challenge against 7th District Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre, announced last week that he is guaranteeing his pledge to serve no more than six years in Congress with a $250,000 check secured by personal assets written in a promissory note.
If Breazeale is elected and violates his pledge, he would then be obligated to donate the $250,000 to the Cape Fear Volunteer Center -- Kids Voting.
This is part of an effort by a group, based in Pinehurst, called the Alliance for Bonded Term Limits, that is seeking to find ways to ensure that candidates will keep their promises to serve a finite time in Congress.
The organization reports on its Web site that three candidates so far have agreed to make bonded pledges.
Term limits were popular among Republicans in the 1990s, but once elected many changed their minds about the value of term limits.
Breazeale is an airline pilot and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve. He is also a decorated combat veteran who served in Iraq and Kuwait.
The Hunt club
The old Jim Hunt crowd gathered in Raleigh on Friday for the groundbreaking of the library that will bear the former governor's name and for lunch at the Park Alumni Center at N.C. State University.
The crowd included a who's who from Hunt's 16 years as governor, including Jim Phillips, former chairman of the UNC Board of Governors; former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell; Norris Tolson, a transportation secretary under Hunt; former Ambassador Jeanette Hyde; Hunt's former spokesman and strategist Gary Pearce; former Human Resources secretary Lucy Bode; former Cultural Resources secretary Betty McCain; former aide Ed Turlington, and former state Democratic chairwoman Barbara Allen.
Just to name a few.
And what would a gathering of politicians be without a little fundraising?
At the lunch, Hunt announced a $20 million fundraising campaign to help cover some of the costs of the library that will also serve as headquarters for the Institute for Emerging Issues, the think tank Hunt created.
"This is a marvelous opportunity," Hunt said. "It really is."
By Barbara Barrett, Lynn Bonner and Rob Christensen
