A different kind of candidate

Say what you will about Carl Mumpower, he does not open his mouth and utter the expected.

The Republican Party's nominee to challenge freshman Democratic Congressman Heath Shuler has no money and slim prospect of getting any. He is not a rousing speaker on the stump. Unlike Shuler, the football star at the University of Tennessee, he does not have telegenic All-American looks.

And yet, he has a way of turning liabilities into assets.

To say he is no Reagan as a speech maker does not mean that he lacks passion. He showed impressively that he could hold an audience when he sat for 33 minutes in front of the Republican Men's Club and explained his ideas about the campaign and governing, then took questions for another half hour.

He mixed a bit of humor into his remarks but a Mumpower talk is mostly an earnest call for voters to cast aside everything they've learned about politics and blow things up. Principle - if he says it once he says it 200 times - is what his campaign is about.

It all amounts to an interesting race in the 11th District, if not necessarily a close one.

We suspect Mumpower is right when he says his campaign will attract national attention. That's owing less to his star power than to the nature of media. The cable news shows have time to fill and we can imagine Mumpower getting his 15 minutes of fame on the O'Reilly Factor.

He mentioned last month that radio shows in Atlanta and Dallas had already contacted him. No surprise. He's the perfect conservative talk radio candidate. He's easy to listen to, articulate and says surprising things.

He says if he is elected he will refuse the overly generous health care and pension plans offered to members of Congress. He won't accept pay raises. He'll ask for the crummiest office and refuse plum committee assignments because he wants to owe no one, even leaders of his own party.

He won't take money from PACs, the Republican National Committee or the National Republican Congressional Committee. When a questioner at the Republican meeting on June 25 suggested donations from the local party would be more pure, Mumpower rejected the premise.

"Do you really believe that you all don't expect something from me (by donating)?" he asked. "I'm sorry but absolutely you expect something from me."

Another questioner said Mumpower should pick his fights. Won't happen, the candidate said. "I don't pick my fights because there's just too many things I'd be looking away from," he said.

Given that Rep. Shuler has raised $971,000 to Mumpower's $27,000, the challenger will need free media to get his message out. Mumpower calls for a debate with Shuler, and we hope Shuler takes him up on it.

Mumpower is right on one point. Money should not decide the 11th District race. A debate on the issues should. A Mumpower-Shuler debate would be fascinating to see.

A different

kind of

candidate