These reminders include radio ads for the two candidates battling to represent western North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. The Republican incumbent, Charles Taylor, possibly in his toughest race yet, is pitted against Heath Shuler, a much younger opponent who acquired name recognition as a gridiron quarterback during the days of autumns past. There are more races for voters to ponder, but those contests remain still in the dark shadows outside our view. It is Taylor and Shuler who compete now for our attention.

Much can be said of the two men and much will be. It is most fruitful to ask why the Republican Taylor has retained his office for more than a decade. The answer to Taylor’s longevity lies in two realities — one about our region and the other about how Congress is run. These realities affect who will be elected and how effective they will serve us in Washington.

The 11th Congressional District is imbedded with Republican enclaves, but Democrats maintain a plurality of almost 41 percent in voter registration. Republicans have 36 percent and the unaffiliated have increased to more than 23 percent.

The native Democrats who populate this mountain district are for the most part very different from the Washington Democrats whose sound bites echo daily through the national media. This difference has motivated some Democrats to cross over and support Taylor in previous elections. These cross-over votes combined with the votes of the unaffiliated and Taylor’s Republican base have been enough to make him the victor.

Shuler’s coaches understand this, and it is why Shuler is campaigning as a native son who rejects gun control and embraces the social conservatism which epitomizes the Appalachian South. The former quarterback needs a large turnout and vote from mountain Democrats to get to Congress.

But before mountain Democrats return to the fold they should be reminded of the other reality. Congress is run along party lines. Shuler must go along to get along.

The leaders of Shuler’s party in Congress will not tolerate any one who deviates from its far left ideology — a fact clearly illustrated by Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s recent defeat in his quest for re-nomination. Lieberman supported the Democrats in the U.S. Senate with only one significant deviation — his support of the war in Iraq.

Likewise, the Washington Democrats will have no time for a freshman Congressman proud of his Southern roots.

So why is Shuler, son of Appalachia, receiving financial and other support from the national Democratic Party and its allies? It is because Shuler’s fellow Democrats — if he is elected — will need one crucial vote from him if the Republicans lose control of the House. This is the vote to elect San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi as the first woman Speaker of the House.

His vote for the ultra-liberal Pelosi is Shuler’s price for the support received from the national Democrats. In the game of politics, he must pay to play.

After Congressman Shuler helps to install Pelosi on her throne, he will be benched by his party leaders. His mountain values would remain the stuff of stump speeches not that of legislation. He might be surprised as to the number of northern liberals who would chair the major committees in a Democratic-controlled House. There is New York’s Charlie Rangel, Massachusetts’ Barney Franks, and Michigan’s John Conyers, to name only a few.

Let us not overlook an important fact provided by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page: The 1996 welfare reform legislation signed by President Clinton was opposed by 13 of the 19 major Democratic chairman who would rule if the GOP falls. Mr. Clinton recently praised this successful reform as a triumph of bipartisanship.

Taylor offers voters everything that Shuler can not. The Brevard businessman is a conservative within a conservative party. If the GOP retains control of the House he will continue his role as a powerful veteran who chairs an important Appropriations sub-committee. If Taylor’s party should lose control of the House, he will still have muscle within the opposition party as it maneuvers to return to power and re-assert a center-right agenda.

Many of us have heard the old saying: Vote the candidate, not the party. But reality demands that we weigh the importance of party, for it is the party that rules. Voters should not forget that.

(Kirkwood Callahan has been a political science professor and an executive in the trucking industry. He and his wife lived 15 years on Dick’s Creek in Jackson County, where they owned and managed vacation rental properties. He is now retired and lives in Waynesville. He may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)