RALEIGH, N.C. – A North Carolina businessman has launched a campaign to unseat first-term Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell.

Lou Huddleston, a Republican from Fayetteville, said Wednesday that he’s running to provide the Eighth Congressional District a voice that constituents trust. He’s an Army veteran who retired as a colonel in 2003 after a tour in Afghanistan.

Kissell won the 8th District seat last year in his second campaign against Republican Rep. Robin Hayes, who last week declined to run for the seat.

Hayes plans to play a behind-the-scenes role in the 2010 campaign. He recently tried to recruit former Carolina Panthers star Mike Minter to enter the race, but Minter declined.

The $787 billion stimulus package includes a “buy American” law sponsored by North Carolina Rep. Larry Kissell that’s designed to help the textile industry.

It’s unclear how many jobs will move to the United States because of the provision, which is the first Kissell measure to become law since he joined Congress last month.

The measure has the backing of textile manufacturers, who participated in a conference call Tuesday to praise the provision from Kissell, a Democrat from Montgomery County.

The law expands a rule that military uniforms be made and assembled in the United States to include textiles worn and used by Transportation Security Administration officers who monitor airports and other transportation systems.

By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Media General News Service

WASHINGTON-It’s almost guaranteed that when Rep. Health Shuler’s opponents criticize him, they’ll knock his football career.

So it was no surprise to see a football-related slam from a top aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after Shuler said House and Senate leaders had failed to craft a truly bipartisan stimulus package.

“Let me get this straight — this is coming from a guy who threw more than twice as many interceptions than touchdowns?” Reid spokesman Jim Manley asked a reporter for Politico.

As everyone in his district surely knows, Shuler was a great quarterback in college at the University of Tennessee and a high NFL draft pick. But he was terrible during his four years in the pros, throwing 32 interceptions and 15 touchdowns.

Shuler’s been out of football for more than a decade. Perhaps it’s time to come up with some new attacks.

COFFIN FLAGS
Rep. Walter Jones, R-Farmville, got a boost last week for his push to allow the news media to photograph the flag-draped coffins of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Pentagon under President George Bush expanded a ban on the practice, which critics said was intended to shield the true cost of war from Americans.

A bill sponsored by Jones would force the military to reverse the policy and allow photographs of coffins when they return to the United States. This week, Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates both said they were reviewing the ban.

“If the needs of the families can be met, and the privacy concerns can be addressed, the more honor we can accord these fallen heroes, the better,” Gates said.

Jones also sponsored legislation last week to ban the importation of American flags made in other countries, especially China.

“Especially at a time when our nation’s economy is hurting, it is just plain common sense that the American flag…should be manufactured here in the United States,” Jones said.

TEXTILE AMENDMENT
An amendment sponsored by Rep. Larry Kissell, D-Biscoe, that would force the Homeland Security Department to buy uniforms made in the United States survived in the stimulus package that passed the House and Senate last week.

Kissell’s measure was sponsored in previous years by Rep. Robin Hayes, the Republican he defeated in the fall, but it never passed.

Free traders worried that the Homeland Security provision, along with another giving a boost to the domestic steel industry, would cause problems with big trading partners like China.

Kissell’s amendment was in the House bill but not in the Senate’s version. A conference committee that worked out differences included the measure in the final version that passed last week.

STANDING OVATION
When Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., announced this week that he would not serve as President Barack Obama’s Commerce Secretary, he cited irreconcilable differences with the new administration over economic issues and the census.

Minority advocacy groups were concerned that Gregg would undercount blacks and Hispanics, so the White House decided to directly oversee the census.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Cherryville, blasted that move as a partisan power grab, and his vocal criticism helped bring more attention to the issue.

Gregg’s withdrawal was seen as an embarrassment for Obama, who wanted another Republican in his cabinet.

At a party caucus meeting, McHenry’s Republican colleagues gave McHenry a standing ovation for drawing public attention to the census issue.

By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Media General News Service

WASHINGTON-It’s pretty rare for a freshman lawmaker to help shape an important bill like the economic recovery package that passed the House Wednesday.

But Rep. Larry Kissell, D-Biscoe, was given a prime slot on CSPAN to talk up his amendment that would require the Homeland Security Department to buy uniforms made by American textile and apparel companies. It was one of only a dozen or so changes Democratic leaders allowed to come to the floor for a vote and it passed easily.

That gave Kissell, a former textile worker, something to brag about in his textile-heavy district that has been hit hard by plant closings.

“I was asked by someone in the press once, ‘Do you feel as a freshman that you don’t have a voice?’ I responded by saying that if you run fast enough and shout fast enough, people will listen,” he said in an interview.

Perhaps, but a lot of freshmen are ambitious. The fact that Kissell is at the top of the Republicans’ target list in 2010 made it a no-brainer for Democratic leaders to hand him an early victory.

COPYCAT
Two North Carolina Republicans gave Kissell negative marks for originality on his amendment. They noted that the man he defeated, Republican Robin Hayes, pushed similar legislation for years. It didn’t pass in the last Congress, which Democrats controlled, or the previous one, which Republicans controlled.

“If it was his idea, he got it from Robin Hayes,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-Banner Elk.

“He took that out of Robin’s playbook,” added Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Cherryville.

BANKING BLANK
Because North Carolina is a major banking hub, one would expect the state to have representation on the Senate banking committee. And it did, until Republican Elizabeth Dole lost her bid for reelection to Sen. Kay Hagan last year.

Hagan, a Democrat, wanted the slot. And her experience as a former banking executive suggested she would have a strong shot at joining the committee, which is playing a big role in shaping the government’s response to the ongoing economic crisis. But she got beat out by three other freshman senators from Virginia, Oregon and Colorado. Because of turbulence in the banking industry, competition for the high profile post was tough, Hagan said in an interview earlier this month.

She landed slots on the Armed Services Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Her North Carolina colleague in the Senate, Republican Richard Burr also serves on those two committees.

PUTTING OUT FEELERS
Richard Burr is up for re-election in 2010 and the field of potential challengers is starting to emerge – very slowly.

One name at the top of the speculation list: Rep. Heath Shuler, whose district encompasses the state’s western tip. The buzz got louder after the Democrat held a $100,000-plus fundraiser last week with former President Bill Clinton in Raleigh – far from his mountainous district.

His spokesman, Andrew Whalen, said the fundraiser was held there because Clinton was giving a speech at North Carolina State University that day.

So is he thinking about running?

Whalen’s careful response: “Today, Congressman Shuler is running for re-election to the House.” Note the key first word of that quote.

The election might be almost two years away, but pollsters are already testing out a Burr-Shuler matchup.

A survey conducted in mid-January by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm in Raleigh, found voters favored Burr over Shuler 39-28 percent, with an extremely high number undecided. Polls are pretty meaningless at this point, since voters aren’t really paying attention. But they’re helping feed the Shuler speculation.

Democrats hope that Hagan’s and Barack Obama’s wins in the state portend a tough contest for Burr. But respected Washington political forecaster Charlie Cook currently ranks the contest as “Solid R,” suggesting a very difficult race for Burr’s challenger.

Hagan and Kissell took the oath of office Tuesday, officially beginning their work on Capitol Hill.

Vice President Dick Cheney presided over Hagan’s oath, and she embraced fellow North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr after accepting it. She’s among nine new senators.

Kisell was sworn in later in the afternoon as Speaker Nancy Pelosi began the House session with 54 new members.

Hagan and Kissell ousted their Republican incumbents in November, adding to the Democratic majority in both chambers. Their party now has nine members from North Carolina in the delegation, compared to six from the GOP.

CONCORD, N.C. – Former North Carolina Republican Rep. Robin Hayes says he’s not ruling out another run for Congress.

Democrat Larry Kissell ousted Hayes in November, just two years after falling 329 votes short of winning the 8th District seat.

As Kissell officially took the oath of office in the U.S. House on Tuesday, Hayes said in an interview with The Associated Press he hasn’t ruled out another rematch.

Hayes said there’s a 50-50 chance he’ll run in 2010. He wants to make the decision soon, so the GOP can begin recruiting another candidate if he bows out.

But Hayes also said he has focused on other matters since losing in November, catching up on some of his philanthropic and business work while also hunting, fishing and spending time with his grandchildren.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Larry Kissell was once an outlet for voters frustrated by manufacturing job losses in the 8th District.

No longer.

Now, North Carolina’s newest lawmaker must do more than talk about his district’s problems as he prepares to take office Tuesday.

The former world history teacher at East Montgomery High in Biscoe was a rookie politician when he first ran for Congress in 2006. He lost to GOP Rep. Robin Hayes by only a few hundred votes, and came back this past November to win their rematch.

This week Kissell moved into a Washington apartment that he says is almost the size of a dorm room. And the former millworker said he was moved by the sight of the Capitol, where he’ll represent voters from a district that stretches from Concord to Fort Bragg.

WASHINGTON—The pictures are down and the awards packed away in Rep. Robin Hayes’ Capitol Hill office.

His desk flanked by cardboard moving boxes, Hayes, R-N.C., said goodbye to old friends this week and considered his options after losing a bid for a sixth two-year term in Congress.

“The memories I have of 10 years, it just doesn’t seem like it’s been that long,” Hayes said in an interview.

As Hayes’ congressional career was drawing to a close, Democrat Larry Kissell, a schoolteacher who soundly defeated Hayes in a district that stretches from Concord to Ft. Bragg, was just beginning his tenure in Washington at an orientation for freshman lawmakers this week.

“It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind of getting to know people and procedures, and getting a good start towards coming up here in January,” Kissell said in an interview. 

This week, he joined other freshman in classes on ethics and operating a congressional office.  He attended dinners with House leaders and met with other North Carolina Democrats. 

He hired a chief of staff, his campaign manger, Leanne Powell.  He requested slots on the same three committees on which Hayes served – agriculture, transportation and armed services. 

He will discover the location of his office after a lottery drawing Friday, but he already has a place to live next year when Congress is in session – a small studio apartment within walking distance of the Capitol.   

“It’s a little bit bigger than a dorm room, but it will be fine for me,” Kissell said.

As a social studies teacher with a passion for history, Kissell said his first trip to Washington after the election had left him somewhat awestruck.     

“When I came in Sunday night and saw the Capitol dome glowing, it stirs you, it gives you a sense of that humbleness, of what you’ve been trusted to do by so many people,” he said.

Hayes said he has not yet determined what to do when his term ends in January. 

This week, he spent what is likely to be the 110th Congress’ last days in Washington wrapping up loose ends.  He helped his staff find new jobs, and closed out requests for help from constituents or prepared to pass their cases on to the new guy.         

He said he hasn’t spent much time thinking about the future.

“Even though I won’t be an active member of Congress, there are a lot of things I can and will do to continue to help the district,” he said.

He said he had not ruled out running against Kissell in two years.

“I’m not thinking about that today. Some people have done that. It’s certainly a possibility, but again that’s on down the road,” he said.

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RALEIGH, N.C. – Democratic high school teacher Larry Kissell has defeated 10-year Republican incumbent Rep. Robin Hayes in North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District.

The Associated Press called the race for Kissell based on an analysis of voter interviews, conducted for the AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

Two years ago, Kissell came within 329 votes of taking the seat despite a long-shot, low-budget campaign. National Democrats took notice after that election and backed Kissell this year, providing support and funding for television advertising.

Kissell capitalized on a struggling economy by knocking Hayes for backing trade legislation that he said has hurt the area’s once-booming textile industry.