Larry Kissell Could Be Facing A Serious Challenge From Mike Minter

Last year the candidate who Blue America spent the most money for was Larry Kissell in North Carolina. In a district where Obama beat McCain 53-47%, Larry, a high school civics teacher, ousted long time multimillionaire incumbent Robin Hayes 55-45%, a great turnaround after the closest race in the country in 2006. Immediately approached by the Blue Dogs, because of the nature of his district, Larry politely begged off and declined to align himself with the conservative Democratic caucus which is so powerful in North Carolina. According to Progressive Punch his all-around score so far this year is 90.91, unpredictably better than Connecticut's Jim Himes (87.41) but not as strong as Virginia's Gerry Connolly (95.62), two freshmen who we had very different expectations from.

Anyway, we've been laughing about how the Republicans are falling on their face across the country when it comes to recruiting first tier congressional candidates. Every few days you see more and more tough local political figures telling the NRCC "thanks but no thanks." Unfortunately that hasn't happened in NC-08, at least not yet, and Larry may face one of the strongest challengers of any of the freshmen we backed in 2008.

Mike Minter is a 35 year old African-American Republican who was a star safety for 10 seasons with the North Carolina Panthers. (He wasn't some laughing stock football player like Heath Shuler either; he was a genuine star with huge positive name recognition.) Thursday's Raleigh News & Observer reported that he's seriously considering entering the race, speaking to the press after a trip to visit the NRCC.

The PVI in the district is R+2, not as bad as Shuler's district's R+6 or Mike McIntyre's R+5 but, remember, both Shuler and McIntrye vote with the Republicans as a matter of course. Larry votes like the Democrat he is. The district is about 27% African-American which, because of Obama's presence on the top of the ticket helped Larry win last year, but might not be as big a factor this year because of a lighter turnout and because of Minter's personal popularity in the community.

My biggest worry is that Larry hasn't been an avid fundraiser. He spends a great deal of time on being a conscientious congressman and not very much kissing up to special interests who finance campaigns. Last year he won because of grassroots donations. If you could help again, it would be very much appreciated. You can do it here at Blue America.