QB-turned-pol Heath Shuler throws his support to Hillary Clinton
ABC's George Stephanopoulos summed up the prevailing pundit opinion on “Good Morning America” today when he predicted that undeclared Democratic superdelegates would start flocking to Barack Obama. Yet the first party honcho to tip his after Tuesday's primaries that boosted 
Obama signed up with ... Hillary Clinton.
A cynic might note that in announcing his support for Clinton, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina was aping his ill-fated pro football career -- joining the roster of a losing team.
But after washing out as a quarterback in the mid-to-late '90s with the Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders, Shuler succeeded as a politician by making clear to the constituents of the western tip of the Tar Heel state that although he was a Democrat, he shared their moderate-to-conservative opinions on most issues. That enabled him, in 2006, to knock off an eight-term Republican incumbent.
In endorsing Clinton, Shuler was hewing to the views of those who sent him to Washington. Although Clinton lost North Carolina to Obama by 14 percentage points, the results in Shuler's district were almost exactly the reverse: she won by 13 points.
He had said he would back the candidate who carried his home turf, and so he had, a spokesman for Shuler announced.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Allsport
Don Frederick has served as an editor helping guide coverage of every presidential election since 1984. He is a third-generation Washingtonian, so watching the political world comes naturally to him.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000.
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Of course, given Shuler's lackluster NFL career, he was aiming for Barack Obama but Clinton just picked it off.
Posted by: wallace | May 07, 2008 at 12:19 PM
What a pathetic man. There is no need to dragh this out and damage the party furthur, tey this 2-time faillure did it anyway. Loser. I hope Republicans use this agaisnt him and defest him.
Posted by: Jason Wertz | May 08, 2008 at 07:54 AM