And it sounds like it’s not to run for Governor of North Carolina, either. The relevant text:
This was not an easy decision. However, I am confident that it is the right decision. It is a decision I have weighed heavily over the past few months. I have always said family comes first, and I never intended to be a career politician. I am ready to refocus my priorities and spend more time at home with my wife Nikol and two young children.
Translation: redistricting had doomed Heath Shuler, anyway, and it’s a bad year to be a Democrat in North Carolina. Just ask Bev Perdue.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: Man, Charlotte’s going to be all kinds of fun during the Democrats’ convention this year, huh? Whose idea was that, anyway? Joe Biden’s? It kind of feels like a Joe Biden kind of decision.
He also probably didn’t like the fact that he and other right-ish dems were used and disposed of like kleenex in `09 and `10. (Jim Webb, I’m looking at you. You perfect fool.)
NC is a swing state for ’12; Obama only won the state by 15K votes (which is pretty near Margin of Theft territory). I’m thinking they want to use the convention to help nail down NC for the Nonamerican.