New Book Reveals How Rep. Shuler Was Recruited To Run For Congress

[wyldwolf]

Among all Shuler's recruiters, one stands out Foul-mouthed former dancer got him to run

Rep. Heath Shuler knows a little something about the art of being wooed.

Nearly every college in the country tried to snag the Waynesville Democrat when he led Swain County High School to three state championships. A Heisman Trophy finalist for his career at the University of Tennessee, he was the No. 3 pick in the 1994 NFL draft.

Now, in a new book, the first-term lawmaker reveals his vote for the most persuasive recruiter he's ever dealt with: a potty-mouthed former ballet dancer named Rahm Emanuel.

Huh?

Emanuel is the Illinois congressman who led the Democrats' successful effort to win control of the House last fall.

"I know all the angles that people use to recruit you," Shuler tells Washington journalist Naftali Bendavid in "The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution." "Nobody does it as well as Rahm Emanuel. He is unbelievable."

Some of the Chicago lawmaker's tactics included constantly assuring Shuler that he wouldn't be away from his wife and children too much by calling him every time Emanuel was with his own family, Bendavid writes.

"It's Rahm. I'm at kindergarten play now," he'd say into the phone.

He also enlisted dozens of Democratic Party leaders, including former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, to pile on.

Shuler got so many recruiting pitches that he stopped answering his phone. One day, he realized he'd just missed a call from former President Clinton.

"Heath, I was so glad sometimes when I would look at the papers and I would see that you made the headlines instead of me," Clinton said when they connected, joking about Shuler's disappointing pro career with the Washington Redskins.

The Doubleday book, which goes on sale May 8, details Emanuel's aggressive techniques as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and his liberal use of words unfit for a family newspaper. In one scene, Emanuel is scolded in a Raleigh restaurant by an offended diner who'd heard too much.

"The Thumpin' " has another notable revelation about Shuler. When President Bush called him, presumably to talk him out of running for office on the Democratic ticket, Shuler refused to take the call.

http://www.charlotte.com/217/story/95732.html

[WCGreen]

1. Emanuel recruited and raised a great amount of money....

And he rightly deserves a lot of credit...

But not all...

If Dean hadn't have stressed a 50 state organization, there might not have been enough at stake for the local folks to get involved...

This is a classic example of top down decisions and money bottom up organization nd money that the Dem's have got to keep up with...

Both Dean and Emanuel share in the victory...

And neither could have done it without the other...

[Bucky]

2. I like having ballet boy on our side of the fence. I still wouldn't ask him to hold my wallet.

He's ruthless in a good way and right on most of the issues, but that still leaves him exactly the sort of politician for which we need to have ethics reform and total governmental transparency.

[Benhurst]

3. I love his not taking a call from Bush. When a creep calls, that's

always the best way to handle it.

:rofl: here in his Western North Carolina Congressional district.