HOW RAHM MADE HEATH HAPPEN
November 10th, 2008, 10:27 am · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Lehr
The future White House Chief of Staff helped the Democrats gain ground in western North Carolina’s Congressional district, with some relentless pressure applied to former Vols quarterback Heath Shuler.
Article excerpt from Emanuel’s Congressional website:
“Congressman Rahm Emanuel boasts that “patience ain’t a virtue in my book,” and that’s especially clear when the feisty Democrat from Illinois is trying to recruit candidates to run in November’s mid-term elections. Last summer, for instance, when Emanuel tried to convince Heath Shuler, former star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, to run for Congress from his native North Carolina, he had to make a hard sell. Shuler said he was worried he wouldn’t get enough time with his two young children if he was constantly shuttling back and forth from Capitol Hill, so Emanuel had more than a dozen congressional Democrats with kids call Shuler. Then he barraged Shuler himself with more than 40 calls over two weeks, just to prove it was possible to serve in Congress and still see your children. “Heath, Rahm, I’m at the pool with my kids,” he said, and then quickly hung up. Another time, “Heath, I”m driving my kids to school.” Later, “Heath, we’re getting ready for soccer practice.”
He was tireless, perhaps even annoying, and wouldn’t take no for an answer - just the kind of qualities that might be required to rally the Democratic troops gearing up for the best chance the party has to take back Congress since the GOP won both the House and Senate in 1994.”
Here’s Heath Shuler’s Congressional website.
Considering Shuler’s politics probably, on average, lean to the right of a Republican in California, I’d not take the charges that he’s too partisan too seriously. The man’s more interested in strategic victories than ideological ones.
