From military campaign to political campaign

If politics makes strange bedfellows, then surely Rutherford Trace offers some curious pillow talk in the legislative halls of Raleigh and Washington, D.C.

Race a ‘toss up’

The race between U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and challenger Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, was reclassified from “Leans Republican” to “Toss Up” by the Cook Political Report in late June. The Cook Political Report is a respected national non-partisan political analysis and polling newsletter.

First negative ad runs in Taylor, Shuler race

The first negative campaign ad hit the airwaves last week in the close-heat Congressional race between U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and Heath Shuler, his Democratic challenger.

Locals plead Duke case to congressmen

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hones its final recommendations for the mitigation Duke Power should provide in exchange for using the region’s waterways to produce hydroelectric power, local officials are asking for one thing — more time.

Taylor tangled in Abramoff’s web

The recent revelations about Rep. Charles Taylor’s ties to a lobbyist who has confessed to federal bribery charges is a serious problem for this region’s Congressman, a controversy that calls into question his ethics and reveals close ties to the sleazy world of politics and money that encircle so many who make a career of politics.

Armor – Eclectic to the nth degree: Highlands Republican wants to pry loose Taylors’ grip on 11th District

When CNN chose John Armor’s web blog as the political site of the day several years ago, coining him an “intellectual redneck” in the process, Armor accepted the tagline proudly.

From his home in Highlands, Armor posts satire columns on the Internet by an invented character, “The (More er Less) Honorable Billybob Congressman” from Western North Carolina. It’s one of many outlets for Armor’s political commentary and humor that floods the journals and digital newsletters of numerous national think tanks, an unwieldy profession that pits Armor as a watchdog of the liberal media one day and a Supreme Court analyst the next.

National forest proposal provides fodder for Taylor-Shuler race

By Becky Johnson and Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writers

A plan to sell off more than 6,500 acres of the national forests in Western North Carolina has galvanized strong opposition in recent weeks, laying the issue at the feet of WNC congressional candidates U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and challenger Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville.

Their response has varied, however. Shuler has condemned the proposal, while Taylor has adopted a non-committal stance.

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