North Carolina Democrats hope that Andrew Whalen can do in the flatlands what he did in the mountains.

Whalen has been named executive of the state Democratic Party and will lead the party as it goes after Republican Sen. Richard Burr's seat next year, Rob Christensen reports.

Whalen, 28, managed the last two campaigns of Democrat Health Shuler who captured the mountain congressional seat in 2006 from Republican incumbent Charles Taylor and then held on to the seat last fall against Ashevillle City Councilman Carl Mumpower. Most recently he was Whalen's Senate communications director.

He replaces Caroline Valand, who is now chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton.

David Young, the state party chairman from Asheville, hired Whalen after watching him up close.

Shuler is one of several people being courted by the national Democratic Party to challenge Burr next year.

Before working for Shuler, Whalen managed two state House races in Virginia.

Also hired was C. Payne Lucas Jr., who will be director of party affairs and development. He will focus on organizing and training. He worked last year for the election of Barack Obama, working as Franklin County Field director for the Campaign for Change in 2008.

He worked the previous 13 years in business and job recruitment.

Who will Democrats field to challenge U.S. Sen. Richard Burr?

Here's the latest speculation from well-connected Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza: Rep. Heath Shuler.

After North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) said no to a challenge to Sen. Richard Burr (R) on Friday, national Democrats have begun to re-recruit Rep. Heath Shuler who has previously said "no" to the race. Shuler has the sort of profile -- pro life, pro gun -- that would make it difficult for Republicans to cast him as a "national" Democrat. He defeated scandal-tarred Rep. Charles Taylor in 2006 and won with a stunning 62 percent in 2008. Shuler also hails from the conservative western part of the state -- a potentially powerful base from which to run.

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

Washington-based newspaper The 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." 

The thing that riles Pelosi most, according to several House aides, is that she believes Shuler's motives are as much political as they are ideological — and that he's picking a fight with her to position himself for a run against Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) next year.

As the paper notes, Shuler was portrayed as "a Pelosi acolyte" by his 2006 opponent, then Rep. Charles Taylor.

He beats out conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Republican Rep. Eric Cantor and another Blue Dog Democrat, Rep. Jim Cooper, for the top spot on Pelosi's list. 

Jerry Meek, who for the last four years has presided over a resurgent Democratic Party, said he plans to step down at the end of his term in January as party chairman.

"I have enjoyed the last four years," Meek said. "It's unlikely I could do anything in six years that I didn't do in four."

Meek said the state Democratic Executive Committee would meet on January 31st to choose a new party chief. Typically, the party chair is chosen by the governor, in this case Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, Rob Christensen reports.

But Meek, who was elected without the support of Gov. Mike Easley, said he thought it was likely that party leaders would want to choose their own leader.

"They feel more empowered than in the past," Meek said. "Even though Governor Perdue is well liked among the party leadership, I doubt we will ever return to where one person handpicks the party chair."

More after the jump.

   Comments (2)

The League of Conservation Voters named U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole to its "Dirty Dozen."

The advocacy group tracks members of Congress on its scorecard of votes on environmental issues, but it periodically issues a list of what it considers the 12 worst.

"Senator Dole's record proves that she's working in the best interests of Exxon-Mobil, not the people of Raleigh-Durham," said political director Tony Massaro in a statement.

The group has given Dole a lifetime rating of four percent on its environmental scorecard for votes against incentives for renewable energy and for tax breaks for oil companies.  

In 2006, the League of Conservation Voters named then U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor to the "Dirty Dozen" and spent money advertising against him. Taylor lost the election.

Massaro would not say if the league will spend money on Dole's race.  

Gordon Smith sees BlueNC as a place for progressive Democratic candidates to find their audience.

A child and family therapist in Asheville, Smith writes about local and national politics on Scrutiny Hooligans, a group blog in Western Carolina.

But given the statewide interest in the 2006 campaign between Heath Shuler and then U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, he started posting on BlueNC as well, under the screen name "Screwy Hoolie."

Smith, 37, says those posts helped draw attention to Shuler, indirectly helping him raise money in parts of the state where he was not well-known.

He sees BlueNC performing a similar role in the lieutenant governor's race right now, with recent live-blogs and regular posts bringing a spotlight to a race that often gets overlooked.

"I think the people that get noticed there are the ones that reach out," he said.

Charles Taylor will definitely not fight a rematch.

The former Republican Congressman said definitively Saturday that he would not run again against U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler for his old seat. Shuler, a Democrat, beat him in 2006.

He told the Asheville Citizen-Times after his annual holiday dinner at the Grove Park Inn, which featured Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. 

"What part of 'no' don’t you understand?" he said. "I've got my own agenda now. I've got lots of business I have to look after. I may take a look at it the future."

Previously: Editor of Asheville weekly says Taylor probably won't run.

A new report by Democracy North Carolina shows that members of the state’s congressional delegation are raising four times as much money as they did a generation ago, even adjusting for inflation.

“They just love pulling in the money, I guess,” said Bob Hall, executive director of the non-partisan watchdog organization. "Most of them are not facing that much competition. I think a lot of it is building your war chests to push away competitors.”

In 1980, the average congressional incumbent from North Carolina who faced a challenger raised $145,500 -- or $356,000 in today’s dollars, reports Barb Barrett.

In 2006, the average amount was nearly $1.4 million, according to the project.

Last year, the state’s 13 members of Congress raised a collective $17 million, the report said.

About 40 percent of that came from political action committees sponsored by groups such as real-estate agents, unions, medical providers and political parties.

Challengers raised about a third as much, the report said. Only one of the challengers – Democrat Heath Shuler of Waynesville – won a race. Shuler defeated GOP Rep. Charles Taylor, who had raised more than $4 million, including $2.5 million of his own money.

“It’s certainly not 100 percent that if you get the most money you will win,” Hall said.

The editor of a conservative Asheville weekly says former U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor won't run again.

The Asheville Tribune wrote a two-part series about the longtime Republican Congressman, asking several times in several ways whether he would challenge Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler in a rematch.

Taylor didn't answer, according to a summary of the piece in the liberal Mountain Xpress. (The original piece is not online.) But editor Bill Fishburne added this comment to the end of the piece:

After hours of interviews, some laughter and some sad moments, and after multiple attempts to get an up or down, yes or no answer to our question about his candidacy, we are left to make up our own minds. ... Based on the sum of these insights, it is The Tribune's belief that Taylor will not be a candidate in the 2008 election.

In the meantime, the GOP primary just got more crowded.

John Armor has joined the crowded field of Republicans in the 11th Congressional race.

The Highlands lawyer, who challenged then U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor in the 2006 primary, says he will run for the Republican nomination to face U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a Democrat.

He will have to beat former Henderson County Republican Party Chairman Spence Campbell and Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower first.

Taylor has not said whether he will run again for his old seat. 

Blue Ridge Now reports that Armor is concerned about the loss of agriculure and manufacturing jobs, dislikes illegal immigration and wants to improve tourism. He also took a shot at his old rival.

"I don't know if Charles Taylor — being it is Halloween — can rise from the dead," Armor said. "The sad thing is he would probably win (the nomination) in a crowded field ... (but) he would get his hat handed to him in the general election."