Perhaps I’m unclear. I thought the C Street House was the locus of a super-secretive (although not really) right-wing Christian religious sect bent on establishing a global theocracy in anticipation of the End Times. Sounds like garden-variety fundamentalism to me

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(You were making a joke, weren’t ya, Bobby?)

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Sorry about that…I was reading too fast. Dan Eichengaard…Dan Osterbaum…it’s all too much. Besides, I’ve been drinking.

You do make a good point. But I’d think that 23 years would be long enough to qualify you for at least honorary residency around these parts…but — as a Yankee myself — what do I know? It’s taken me five years just to realize that the phrase bless your heart is just the Carolina way of saying you’re a clueless fucking idiot.

Besides, for the whackjobs that have taken over the GOP, unflinching adherence to “principle” (whatever that means…I used to spin this shit for a living and I’m still not sure) trumps everything: dude could be from the moon as long as he manages to channel Glenn Beck.

Cheers,

MM

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You’d rather live in Virgina Foxx’s or Patrick McHenry’s district that Heat Shuler’s? Good heavens — if you think you have probmes with Shuler just wait until your are represented by either of them.

The 11th may be big geographically but districts, of curse, are draw by population. Since, overall, the 11th has not grown as much as NC has as a whole I doubt the district lines will be changed very much — maybe it will lose that sliver of Rutherford County but not much else and theoretically it could even gain territory. Being in the corner of the state doesn’t help much either and Democrats in Raleigh will want to see to it that Shuler has the best district they can give him and that will have to include Democratic leaning Buncombe.

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It was Dan Eichenbaum who I was asking about since on his web site says he moved to NC after time in New York and Florida.

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And, -not like I brought this up weeks ago or anything- Newman isn’t exactly as wildly popular in Henderson as a few people might think.

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Good observation on the “poverty mentality.” You’re absolutely right.

I’m sure Congressman Taylor’s ability to self-fund for so long has something to do with it, but I really think it’s just because WNC Republicans are so fucking cheap. They won’t cough up what it takes to run a modern campaign — undoubtedly because so many are still stuck back in 1958.

It’s also why Republican candidates usually have to rely on a few shady big-dollar donors, reinforcing the not-inaccurate idea that Republican votes are bought and paid for by greedy corporate interests.

Of course, actually having viable candidates worth sending a check to might be a good idea from time to time.

RHS,

I believe Mr. Ostergaard originally hails from Sylva…but you’re right: too much time away from the mountains (not to mention at the same effete alma mater as Barack Obama) clearly makes one suspicious, if not entirely a carpetbagger. But it hardly matters, sounds like he won’t run this time.

MM

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“Prior to moving to North Carolina, he practiced for several years in New York and Florida.”

Certainly moving to WNC from New York or, especially, Florida would work against a candidate given you contention that “Western North Carolina is notoriously suspicious of outsiders.”

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I’m hearing WCU won’t let him run because of contractual reasons. I’ll find out more Monday. (I’ll bet a Democrat wouldn’t have been told there was a problem).

As far as the money goes…that’s part of the Poverty Mentality that afflicts this district’s Republicans, possibly because Taylor paid his own way for so long.

You had the misfortune of getting involved in Buncombe County. Had you been in another county, especially West of the Balsams, your experience would have been much better.

I’m hoping that the district gets split up after the 2010 Census. It’s geographically too big. At any rate, I’d like to see most of Buncombe County in another district, perhaps in redrawn McHenry or Foxx District. It’s a little dream I have.

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My sense is that Mr. Shuler’s “C Street” associations — to the extent that they are even on the radar — certainly don’t hurt him among most voters in the 11th. Among Republicans, they undoubtedly help.

Mr. Shuler was re-elected in 2008 because so many Republicans voted for him; the district otherwise supported John McCain over President Obama, and skews heavily conservative and Christian — and fundamentalist Christian at that. I’d let it go. Attacking Mr. Shuler with the “C Street” boogeyman will be seen as a godless, socialistic attack on religion, which will only serve to boost his numbers in a Democratic primary. Without Mr. Obama’s substantial college-aged and African-American voting blocs to count on in a low-turnout off-year election, the number of progressive votes shrinks considerably in the 11th.

And the GOP would love for progressives to successfully (or even unsuccessfully) primary Mr. Shuler…an important factor to keep in mind.

MM

P.S. Thanks for the welcome and vote of confidence, Uptown. I love the Lincoln quote…of course, by modern Republican standards, Mr. Lincoln was nothing more than a big-government despot who trashed private property rights and the Constitution. But what are you gonna do, right?

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let us find common ground and move foward, together.

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.” ~Abraham Lincoln

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I know, right? Thanks to you and all the Hooligans for the opportunity to contribute in this way. I was sincerely honored when you asked me, and I hope my contributions can add something to the dialogue. It also says a lot about you that you’d be willing to include an outsider such as me. Bodes well for our fair city, methinks.

Besides, two years of working for Republicans has been about as productive as a one-armed eunuch at a sperm bank.

MM

Have a great Thanksgiving and give Rachel a hug for me

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Your point is well taken (and I agree), but I wasn’t specifically referring to Carl — or the dynamics involved the ’09 municipal race.

The Buncombe thing is purely about numbers; the fact that Eichenbaum already has positive name recognition here among the most conservative voters in an otherwise low-turnout, off-year primary is telling. Eichenbaum will win Buncombe, most of the other counties, and will carve a significant enough number out of Henderson to clinch it. The folks who will decide the outcome on May 4 are disciples of Beck and Limbaugh, and Eichenbaum will provide them with the familiar rhetorical red meat they crave.

I encouraged George Erwin back in the spring of ’08 to think about a congressional run, although I haven’t spoken with him since last Christmas. He would make a great candidate — I had the pleasure of seeing him campaign throughout the 11th for Fred Smith. I have a great fondness for him, and he’s a natural. But for now anyway, he’s out.

As for dollars, I can’t imagine that any Republican can raise a million bucks during the primary, and certainly it doesn’t take that kind of scratch to win. Spence Campbell spent a quarter of a million dollars in the primary (outspending us by nearly 5:1 if I remember correctly) and had a half a dozen paid staffers. Despite Carl’s best attempts to alienate everyone across the district, he still won the ’08 primary because he worked harder. I sense that quality in Eichenbaum.

Word on the street is that Ostergaard has taken himself out of the running. Know anything?

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It’s great to see your little byline on the Scrutiny Hooligans front page. Thanks for being willing to contribute to our political experiment. I look forward to seeing the conversation here grow and deepen because you’re present.

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Dr Dan is the certainly the most organized of those currently running, but if Erwin decided to run, I think all bets would be off. I have more confidence in his fund raising skills than Dr Dan, who (more or less) is a blank slate for me at this time. If none of the Republicans can raise at least a million dollars in the primary, I have little confidence that they can beat Shuler.

I’ll be webcasting a candidate forum next Monday, and will take a first measure of them then.

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From his bio:

“Mr. Ostergaard hails from the mountains of North Carolina where he also raises Dexter cattle and a variety of heritage livestock breeds on a farm nestled between the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains.”

MM

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