Emanuel is a handsome, cocky, rich Chicago investment banker, a former top Clinton White House aide who headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the midterm elections

Kissell looks like what he is: a middle-aged social studies teacher from the town of Biscoe, which hardly anybody outside Montgomery County has ever heard of.

Kissell said he was inspired to run for Congress after hearing his Baptist preacher talk about Jesus walking on water and telling his disciples that if they wanted a miracle, they would have to get out of the boat.

Emanuel thought it was more likely that Kissell would tread water rather than walk on it.

When Kissell called the Democratic bigwigs in Washington asking for a little help with his congressional campaign, he couldn't get his telephone calls returned, said Thomas Mills, one of Kissell's consultants.

With little help from Washington, Kissell was outspent roughly 8-to-1 by Republican U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes.

Kissell, who conceded the race last week after a partial hand recount, lost by 329 votes out of 121,523 cast.

"It was one of the great missed opportunities [for Democrats], not only in North Carolina but in the nation," Mills said.

Emanuel and the House Democrats were looking for a certain kind of candidate -- a political moderate with some sizzle. The national Democrats poured money into the campaign of Democrat Heath Shuler, the former Washington Redskins quarterback who defeated 11th District Rep. Charles Taylor in the mountains. Shuler had glamour, wealth and a moderate brand of politics.

Emanuel thought he had a candidate to run in the 8th District: Tim Dunn, a Fayetteville lawyer and Marine officer who recently returned from Baghdad.

But when Dunn dropped out of the race, the national Democrats virtually conceded the race to Hayes, the folksy heir to the Cannon textile fortune who was the GOP nominee for governor a decade ago.

If the big boys abandoned Kissell, the activists did not.

The Internet activists and bloggers took up Kissell's cause. Some Democrats, most notably Reps. Brad Miller of Raleigh and David Price of Chapel Hill, tried to help him. Former Gov. Jim Hunt knocked on some doors, and former Sen. John Edwards attended a rally. State Democratic Chairman Jerry Meek spent a week campaigning with Kissell, and the state party paid for late radio ads.

"When you have the benefit of hindsight," Meek said, "you kick yourself and wish you had done more."

This was a case of deja vu for the Democrats. The national party ignored Democrat Mike Taylor of Albemarle in 1998 and then was surprised when Hayes barely beat him, 51 percent to 48 percent.

Kissell has already announced plans to run again in 2008. But Democrats might never have a chance again to pick up that seat.

At a meeting after the election, Meek ran into Emanuel.

"He was candid," Meek said. "He wished he had known it was going to be that close."

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.