Posted on 03/28/2007 3:22:37 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Patrick McHenry is the neighborly sort.
The Cherryville congressman was recently spotted west of his congressional district to see if he could talk state Sen. Tom Apodaca into challenging a former football star, Rep. Heath Shuler, who earned national recognition last year by beating Rep. Charles Taylor of Brevard.
Apodaca, a third-term state senator and rising star in Raleigh, is thinking about it. But McHenry hasn't stopped there. A member of the National Republican Congressional Committee executive board, he's taken it upon himself to find someone who can take back the congressional seat he believes Shuler won on a fluke.
It might even be Taylor, who has not ruled out a rematch.
Meanwhile, the national Republican Party, business groups and conservative activists have Shuler on a watch list that triggers hard-hitting press releases before, during and after any vote with potential to wound the freshman, who ran as a social and fiscal conservative, and a defender of "mountain values."
"It's going to be hard for him to keep his campaign promise of being a conservative," McHenry said.
It's not unusual for the political parties to start recruiting this early -- Democrats are working on their own target list as well -- but the intense scrutiny of Shuler's every move and the early hunt for a viable challenger demonstrates just how eager Republicans are to tackle him.
Their first obstacle, however, is Taylor, who served eight terms and enjoys mixed reviews from analysts and GOP insiders about the kind of candidate he would make. The millionaire banker looms large over the potential field, despite years of ethical questions that ultimately helped Shuler bring him down amid voter unrest over Republican lapses.
(Excerpt) Read more at hendersonvillenews.com ...
I hope that Charlie Taylor doesn't try to come back. He blew it last time, and it's time for someone who's untainted.
go for one of our own, Congressman BillyBob.
With Webb in the news, it's nice to see the media discussing Shuler, another member of the 5 watt caucus.
anything new on Webb, or do they have it buried already?
I assume that Senator Tom Apodaca is a conservative, or Congressman Patrick McHenry (perhaps the most conservative young member of Congress) would not be recruiting him to run. I agree that Charles Taylor would not be our strongest candidate to retake the seat, and a state senator from Henderson County such as Senator Apodaca sounds like the smart way to go.
BTW, if elected, Tom Apodaca would give the GOP a Mexican-American Congressman, something we haven't had since Henry Bonilla was defeated in a run-off last December:
"Apodaca, 49, said his father is Mexican and his mother is Scotch-Irish. He was born in El Paso, Texas, raised in Durham and has lived in North Carolina 38 years."
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=256852
It tends to be Taylor's honor, but we knew he was going to have problems some time ago holding this seat. We probably need to go with someone new. I had forgotten that Taylor has been in elective office on and off since he was 25, when he got elected to the NC House back in 1966 (he apparently lost as a State Senator in the '74 Watergate debacle and didn't make a return to politics for 14 years when he ran against the incumbent Jim Clarke in '88 and then beat him in a '90 rematch). If Taylor runs again, he may be thinking that he can treat Shuler like he did Clarke, but Clarke was the old out-of-touch incumbent, and he resembles his old nemesis more these days, unfortunately.
Shuler is just another "Nancy Boy."
The WaPo put it on the front page of the local section. They certainly aren't playing it up.
Others are burying it, yes.
I wonder if Tom Apodaca is any kin to former NM Governor Jerry Apodaca ?
Shestak in Weldon's old distict may be another Dem who wasn't ready for prime time, but the Republicans need a high profile
telegenic spokesman, the likes they haven't had since Haley Barbour.
"I wonder if Tom Apodaca is any kin to former NM Governor Jerry Apodaca?"
BTTT
Taylor is a greedy bastard. He just interested in using Congressional influence to enrich his business buddies. Taylor needs to be persuaded from running again.
That's so correct about Charlie Taylor, who should have never sought reelection. Besides Tom Apodaca and Congressman BillyBob, other possible candidates are Transylvania County District Attorney Jeff Hunt and Buncombe County Commissioner Nathan Ramsey.
A Hispanic candidate in the mountains of North Carolina. What is the party thinking?
Taylor should stay out as well. He hasn't got a snowball's chance in the general.
go for one of our own, Congressman BillyBob.
BTTT
No thanks, no shills for Rudy Giuliani. Go Taylor!!!
"A Hispanic candidate in the mountains of North Carolina. What is the party thinking?"
I'd need to know how typical the Senate district is of the congressional district, and whether he's known in the rest of the district. It's not only a Hispanic name, but a weird-sounding Hispanic name.
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