Heath Shuler's Got the Big Head

When pressed in a debate about Nancy Pelosi by his Republican challenger Jeff Miller, Heath Shuler yesterday said he'd be voting for himself to be Speaker of the House in the 112th Congress.

"I can do as good a job as anybody in the U.S. Congress because I can actually bring people together. I can bring people together to the table to talk about the issues and not about the political structure and that's what's destroying the whole process in Washington – the politics," said Shuler.

Shoot! And here we were thinking that it was ego destroying the process.

Everything That Rises Must Converge

That's Republican Congressional candidate Jeff Miller, who's running against Heath Shuler in the NC-11, posing with Madam Virginia Foxx at a funder for Miller in Washington, D.C. on September 28. (Hattip: Scrutiny Hooligans)

Madam Foxx was billed as "honorary co-host," which we assume means she didn't have to lift a finger otherwise, except probably to scarf the hors d'oeuvres.

Mr. Miller, for his part, appears to be trying to avoid touching the Madam. Which we totally sympathize with.

News From the NC-11

I carry no torch for Heath Shuler. That ought to be clear by now. He allied himself very quickly in Mugstomp-on-the-Potomac with the blue dogs, which gave us a good case of dyspepsia, but luckily (we said under our breath), he's somebody else's congressman, and we don't have to deal with that reelection campaign.

Besides, we have our own burden to bear with that Vixen of Vexation Virginia Foxx (who, incidentally, was recently named "meanest" member of Congress in a poll of those who know her best, senior Hill staffers. She also came in third for "Most Clueless" member of Congress, right behind Michele Bachmann and Democrat Hank Johnson of Georgia -- speaking of somebody else's problem for reelection!).

Anyhoo, back to Heath Shuler, for whom we have some difficulty rousing our partisan enthusiasm. Our friend and Asheville blogger (not to mention new member of the Asheville City Council) Gordon Smith writes persuasively that Shuler deserves some love, that he votes with the Dems in Congress slightly over 80% of the time (I take Gordon's word for it), and that he's definitely better than the alternative, one Jeff Miller, a Hendersonville dry cleaner who (by the way) attended Appalachian State University.

As always, my daily essential reading at Scrutiny Hooligans (Gordon's crib) has some pretty good local intel about Jeff Miller's problem with an Asheville Tea Party group, which apparently thinks he's waaay too moderate to suit their tastes. So, apparently in retaliation, some Hendersonville Republicans, who take their tea intravenously straight from Glenn Beck, formed their own PAC to help Miller, and there's just a whole lotta drama swirling in the NC-11 GOP.

Which helps Heath Shuler. And I reckon I'm cool with dat, given Gordon Smith's testimonial.

Republicans: This Is Your Brain on Tea

Utah tea partier Mike Lee came in only second in the balloting in Utah yesterday that threw out incumbent Senator Robert Bennett, but it was the tea partiers who provided the umph to oust Bennett.

Lee is a lawyer who clerked for Justice Samuel Alito. He's a free marketeer who thinks the economic crisis can be fixed by removing regs on banks and other corporations. He wants the tax burden shifted onto the shoulders of the middle and poorer classes of people through the "flat tax," which will teach 'em a goood lesson about the costs of the social safety net, once they start paying more taxes. He's a "drill, baby, drill" sorta politician who thinks government has no right to tell anybody anything, except when it comes to abortion, and then he's all for government's taking charge of women's lives. He was endorsed by Sen. Jim DeMint, patron saint of tea partiers everywhere.

"That the tea party would consider Bob Bennett, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, too liberal, just goes to show how extreme that tea party is," Democratic National Chair Tim Kaine said. "If there was any question before, there should now be no doubt that the Republican leadership has handed the reins to the tea party."

The man who finished first in the convention balloting, businessman Tim Bridgewater, will be forced into a June 22nd primary against Lee, whom he beat in convention delegates 57-43 percent. Smart money is on Bridgewater. Mad money is on Lee.

Coming in second seems to be the pattern with some tea party candidates elsewhere, though they're sucking a lot more air out of the Republican closet than their numbers would seem to justify. In the NC-11, for example, the tea party candidate, ophthalmologist Dan Eichenbaum lost the Republican primary to Jeff Miller, a Hendersonville dry-cleaner. Eichenbaum got 34 percent of the vote last Tuesday but fell short of forcing a run-off with Miller, who will now be on the ballot facing Heath Shuler in November.