The Tennessean
Heath Shuler gained fame in the Southeast as a star quarterback with the University of Tennessee Volunteers in the early 1990s.
Now he is emerging as a leader of moderate Democrats in the House, where he is serving his third term. And he has plans to expand his influence.
But some poltical experts say Shuler’s potential as a power broker in Congress is limited by his image as an intellectually challenged jock whose career with the Washington Redskins failed spectacularly after he gained national attention as a first-round pick in the NFL draft.
Shuler, 39, said he began working to play a larger role in Congress after Democrats lost control of the House last fall, a defeat largely attributable to GOP victories in moderate and conservative districts such as the one Shuler represents in Western North Carolina.
“I felt like we needed a new direction and a change in leadership after such an overwhelming thrashing we took in the election,” Shuler said.
Before last November, 53 House members belonged to the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition.
Twenty-two lost their seats in the election. Another five retired, and their seats were won by Republicans.
Those losses allowed Shuler to advance in the group’s leadership, placing him in the middle of negotiations on key fiscal issues and in front of the microphones more often.
Two days after the election, Shuler called Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California to tell her he would be running for her job as the top House Democrat.
“I told her that I have been in her situation before.” he said. “I have been part of a team that lost. When you lose that significantly, you have to take responsibility for those losses.”
But Pelosi didn’t step down, and in a closed-door vote among caucus members later that month, she defeated Shuler 150-43 to serve as minority leader in the 112th Congress.
Sending a message?
Shuler said his vote total shows support beyond the remaining members of the Blue Dog Coalition.
“It obviously sent a message,” he said. “People said, ‘I have a different respect for you.’ ”
But Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an expert on Congress, disagrees, saying Shuler’s leadership bid “got him a little attention but not a whole lot of respect within the Democratic caucus.”
“I think Shuler has trouble,” Mann said. “He was an athlete — not a particularly successful one in the pros — and he’s not made a mark from a substantive standpoint.”
Still, in the months that followed, Shuler did end up getting two key appointments, both of which would have been reviewed by Pelosi.
One was a spot on the House Budget Committee, which has an especially high profile this year because of concerns about federal spending and budget deficits. The other was an appointment to the Democratic House Steering and Policy Committee, which advises Democratic House leadership.
In the past few weeks, Shuler’s small office has become a gathering place for negotiations on spending for the rest of this fiscal year and fiscal 2012.
Shuler also is taking a more active role trying to recruit moderate candidates. He has made calls and met with candidates in his office.
He also made what he hopes will be the first of many speeches outside his district when he was the keynote speaker at the 2011 Frank and Behine Church Gala in Boise, Idaho, in February, an important annual event for Idaho Democrats.
Shuler also is attempting to boost his national profile and influence by building up his leadership political action committee, called 3rd and Long. Members of Congress use leadership PACs to raise money for other candidates and build alliances.
“I want to be able to grow the center,” Shuler said. “I have seen the fringes grow exponentially in the last few elections. I want to see the center grow because that’s where 80 percent of America is.”