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Former Redskin Heath Shuler Is Hoping to Return to Washington, This Time as a Congressman

ASHEVILLE, N.C. Heath Shuler is scrambling again, looking to his left and to his right.

The former Redskins quarterback -- who hopes to represent western North Carolina in the 110th Congress next year -- is running against incumbent Charles H. Taylor, a Republican who has whipped every opponent in the past eight elections.

On a recent afternoon, Shuler is in Canton, just west of Asheville, to give the Pisgah High School Black Bears a pep talk. It's a sunny day in the Smoky Mountains, the autumn leaves are lovely. The first-time candidate spends nearly an hour joking with the football players, most of whom are too young to vote.

He is at home here in his football-shaped world. The game made him who he is.

When Shuler, 34, addresses the whole Pisgah team, he doesn't seem quite as comfortable as when he goes one-on-one. He's not a polished politician. He lurches toward the right words; his syntax is homespun. "Pride yourself on being the most aggressive team out there," he tells the kids. "Stay focused. Being 10 and 0 is something you can pride yourself with."

He tosses a ball with the quarterback. Nearly a decade out of pro football, Shuler -- 6 feet 2 with dark hair and green eyes -- still has a tight spiral. After a few tries, he lofts one 30 yards into a gray trash can. Then he strolls over to a shade tree where seven older men are watching the practice. Hands in pockets, he toes the ground and jaws with them awhile.

"What's that on your finger?" asks a man in an orange Tennessee T-shirt.

"It's an NFL alumni ring," Shuler says, handing it to him.

Another guy says to Shuler, "You'll get a vote if you let him keep that ring."

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Football, politics, family, faith -- these are Shuler's cornerstones.

"You've got a perfect storm," says David Young, an Asheville travel agent and Buncombe County commissioner who ran against Taylor as the Democratic candidate in 1998. "You've got a good conservative candidate who is not liberal on issues important to the people of western North Carolina -- abortion, gay marriage. He's good-looking. He's got money."