Shuler will not take on Burr

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has shot down a U.S. Senate bid. Speaking at a groundbreaking in Asheville, the Waynesville Democrat said he would not run against U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in 2010, according to the Hendersonville Times-News:

“I am not running for Senate,” the second-term Democrat said after a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building at the Bent Creek Experimental Forest Station in Asheville. “I am not running for Senate. I am not running for Senate. I have said that a thousand times, and I don’t know why they keep coming up [with the idea]. Of course they keep coming up and running polls.”

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1561276.html

Fallout over Shuler’s foreign trip continues

ASHEVILLE — A few dozen protesters, many of them ethnic Tamils from around the state, marched from City-County Plaza to Pritchard Park on Saturday in opposition to Rep. Heath Shuler’s recent trip to Sri Lanka and comments he made praising the treatment of Tamil refugees there.

Protesters at the demonstration, organized by Tamils Against Genocide, held signs and spoke through loudspeakers, criticizing Shuler’s trip where he visited displacement camps for refugees in the northern part of the country.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090607/NEWS01/906070344/1009/news01

Shuler won’t run for Senate when Burr is up for re-election

Time better spent dealing with crisis in economy, he says
Published: March 10, 2009

RALEIGH – North Carolina U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler said yesterday that he will not run for Senate in 2010, declining a chance at a seat in the upper chamber as Democrats plot to expand their majority on Capitol Hill.
Shuler said he was flattered to have so many people ask him to challenge Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/mar/10/shuler-wont-run-for-senate-when-burr-is-up-for-re-/news-ncpolitics/

Sidenote: Translation, Democrats have nasty primaries…

Pelosi unhappy with Shuler, Politico says

Ryan Teague Beckwith, Mark Johnson and Rob Christensen – Staff Writers
Published: Mon, Mar. 09, 2009 12:30AM

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler has made an interesting enemy.

Washington-based newspaper Politico writes that the Waynesville Democrat is No. 1 on the bad list of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Shuler got on her bad side by voting against both bank bailout bills and the stimulus package and telling a Raleigh audience that House leaders “failed.”

http://www.newsobserver.com/659/story/1434535.html

Shuler gets earmark projects, funding for WNC

Blue Dog Dem says funding fills needs
GANNETT WASHINGTON BUREAU • PUBLISHED MARCH 8, 2009 12:15 AM

WASHINGTON – Rep. Heath Shuler helped snare more than $11 million in projects for Western North Carolina in a budget bill expected to pass Congress this week.

The projects include $237,500 to buy new buses for the Asheville Transit System, $666,050 for a green-energy training program at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, $870,000 for the red wolf breeding program at the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville and $475,000 for repairs on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903080342

Shuler defends stimulus ‘no’ vote

But congressman to push for WNC share

DALE NEAL • DNEAL@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM • UPDATED FEBRUARY 20, 2009 3:45 PM

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ASHEVILLE – U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, one of only seven Democrats to vote against the $787 billion federal recovery act, defended his decision Thursday, saying there wasn’t enough stimulus in the package to give his support.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902200323

Shuler hits Democratic leaders on bipartisanship

By MIKE BAKER Associated Press Writer

Published: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 1:56 p.m. 
Last Modified: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler said Monday that his party’s leadership on Capitol Hill has failed to pursue a bipartisan compromise to a costly economic stimulus package, arguing that a lack of Republican support is eroding the program’s credibility.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090209/APN/902091472