Tom Apodaca

"District Attorney Jeff Hunt said today he will not seek the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler in the 11th congressional district." - BlueRidgeNow.com

Jeff Hunt was gung ho to run when we met him in the spring though he was waiting on disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor to bow out first. Hunt's announcement yesterday coupled with Taylor's coy non-answers to the Henderson County Republican Men's Club make it look like we're going to have to endure another season of Taylor's poorly produced smear ads and outright lies.

The rumor mill says that Tom Apodaca won't run because his wife is reluctant. Carl Mumpower could give it a shot, but you've seen how well Asheville candidates do out in the hinterlands.

Hunt really wanted to run.

Charles Taylor... Are ya sure, Charles? Are you sure? Because you're looking at a 61-39 loss this time unless you have photographs of Heath having group sex with Cindy Sheehan, Al Sharpton, and Larry Craig. You're going to put yourself through the wringer, further blackening your karma, having to deal with agitators - For what?

No matter your feelings about Heath Shuler (Mixed Bag D - NC), no one misses The Lump. Disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor ran the dirtiest campaign in memory, throwing nearly $4 million at those amateur television spots and mailers in an effort to make people forget just how much they loathed him. Almost $3 million of that came out of Taylor's own deep pockets, and Charles Taylor does not like spending his own money.

In this post-election year, using every other off-year as a basis, we can safely assume that Taylor is busy raising money to pay himself back for all those rubles he spent. Meanwhile, a squadron of Republican candidates wait in the wings, knowing that every day Charles Taylor doesn't withdraw his name from the race is a day lost.

Pat McHenry, the little 10th district Congressman with the big talking points, came to Hendersonville to talk to dramatically backlit Tom Apodaca about running against Heath Shuler in November, 2008. Apodaca, an NC state Senator, had this to say, "I have spoken to former Congressman Taylor and let him know they have contacted me. I wanted to know his thoughts. He has not made up his mind, so as a courtesy, we'd stay in touch."

Lots of folks are waiting to hear Taylor say that he won't seek the seat again, and even old Bill Sabo, who never met a Republican frame he didn't like, thinks, "Republicans are trying to be deferential to Taylor but I think his time's passed,".

Tom Apodaca has conservative credentials as well as the requisite 'creepy' chops to rally the red-meat Republican base. This year he's cosponsoring S46, which provides birth certificates for stillborn children. Judging from this list of bills he's cosponsoring this legislative session, Apodaca spends a lot of time on teacher salary and school funding, Defending Marriage against the dirty homos, and increasing penalties for various laws. He sits on eleven different state committees and has a lot of monied friends to help him launch a bid.