Western NC race getting negative publicity

Forgive a little local reference here, but it's interesting that the race in my local Congressional district is attracting attention as far away as New York--and London.

The New York Times' Caucus blog has a posting on the Heath Shuler/Charles Taylor race in the 11th Congressional district, and calls it a 'mudslide'. It quotes the Hendersonville Times (a New York Times newspaper) which asks both campaigns to give up their nasty TV ads.
Lots of interesting stuff here including a link to the recent Wall Street Journal article on Taylor's business dealings, quotes from the political forum held the other night in Murphy, where Shuler and one of Taylor's aides spoke. Lots of comments on the posting, including a couple from Murphy. And another commenter has something to say about Murphy:

Those people in Murphy NC will vote for Taylor only because he is a Republican. They could care less if he takes this state to the cleaners and promotes educating Russian students instead of US students. They have confused religion with politics and I don’t beleive anywhere in the Bible it allows crooks to get into heaven. When you vote for Taylor you vote for all of the dishonest things he stands for...

Another commenter deplores the....

...lack of support Mr. Taylor provided the extreme western part of his congressional district. I’m not surprised he didn’t show up in Murphy because I doubt he knows where it is.

Interesting thing about living in Murphy: people here don't see those ads, since we get local TV from Chattanooga, and see ads for Bob Corker and Harold Ford's Senate race. One thing: if you haven't seen the videos, they're on the Times' site, linked from the Caucus posting.

The story moves to London, where The Guardian's Newsblog comments and links on the race.

The Caucus has some nice things to say on the scenery around here, too:

We’ve got some video up to show you why we’re not too remiss about leaving television behind for a few hours. After all, it’s autumn, and the fall foliage in the mountains would be enough to make your ears and eyes pop without the winding curves of the climb on West 74.