Bush critic challenging Myrick

Harry Taylor, Charlotte businessman who publicly scolded President Bush last year, today kicked off a campaign for Congress in North Carolina's 9th District.

Taylor, a Democrat, is the second Democrat to announce a challenge to Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a former Charlotte mayor elected to Congress in 1994, reports The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill. Charlotte businessman Ross Overby also is running.

Taylor, 63, made international headlines last year when Bush took questions after a speech at Central Piedmont Community College. From a balcony, Taylor raised his hand and Bush called on him.

"I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened, by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency," Taylor told the president. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself."

Read more after the jump.

–––––

Taylor alluded to that confrontation Tuesday.

"Those members of Congress who have made George Bush's presidency possible, in all its enormous failings, are as much to blame," he told about 40 people at the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections.

Myrick, 66, has never been seriously challenged in her Republican-leaning district. In 2006, she spent nearly $1.3 million to her Democratic opponent's $11,700.

Taylor and his supporters say they hope to raise $2 million, much of it from the netroots community of liberal activists.