From the FOXNews site:

"The Republicans are beginning to sound more and more desperate.

With the midterm elections barely three months away, the war in Iraq going badly, the Republicans losing on the generic question of whether you’d rather vote for a Democrat or Republican for Congress, and President Bush’s popularity still in the toilet, it’s easy to understand why.

So what do you do when you’re desperate?

In North Carolina, where Republican Rep. Charles Taylor, an eight-term incumbent, is fighting for his political life, there is only one issue the incumbent wants to talk about. Not his opponent, former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler. Not Shuler’s positions on issues, which tend to be squarely in line with the district: he is pro-gun and anti-abortion, which is pretty much what he’d have to be to get elected in the mountains of western North Carolina.

What Charles Taylor wants to talk about is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi."
[...]
If that isn’t desperation, what is?

Wouldn’t you like a nickel for every voter in the district who doesn’t even know who Nancy Pelosi is?

Why in the world would a voter in North Carolina be voting for his representative in Congress based on who that representative will vote for for Speaker of the House should he be elected?

It’s hard enough to make the speaker an issue when you have a controversial incumbent speaker who is already in office, already a national figure, like Newt Gingrich. Even then, Democrats repeatedly tried to run against Gingrich, mostly without success.

But against someone who hasn’t even become Speaker, on the chance that she will?

The Shuler campaign has taken issue with the Taylor ad, pointing out that Shuler opposes illegal immigration and supports stronger border enforcement. He didn’t add, and didn’t need to, that neither he nor Nancy Pelosi supports voting by illegal immigrants. Pretty ridiculous.

In answer to the question of whether he would vote for Pelosi for speaker, Shuler says: “Just as I was interviewed to run for this office, I will also do my interview process and pick the person that not only fits the best for our district, but also fits our party best.”

An excellent answer. He isn’t saying, and my guess is, not a single voter will ask.

But Charles Taylor will not be the only one to use the issue. According to Jonathan Collegio, of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, “Nancy Pelosi is one of the most stridently liberal politicians in recent memory, and insofar as candidates can draw a contrast between their record and Pelosi’s record,” she becomes the issue.

If the best they can do is talk to voters about themselves, about congressional process, not voters’ lives, it represents, as Pelosi herself puts it, “a bankruptcy of ideas.”

Every time you hear Pelosi’s name from a Republican, remember that."