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Whether he’s shaking hands at a civic club luncheon or addressing the U.S. House, Rep. Howard Coble  uses the same gravely patois of carefully planned double negatives and self-deprecating humor that he has employed for the past 25 years to win over listeners.

After an overblown introduction during a recent House floor session, Coble croaked, “Thank you for elevating me to the 'esteemed’ status. I’m not sure I deserve that.”

When asked during an interview about his standout accomplishments over the past two years, Coble  mentions his work on intellectual property law and efforts to rein in federal spending, but they are not on top of his list.

“My attendance record and voting record have been for the most part favorable to the district I represent,” Coble said, also noting his reputation for solid constituency service.

The question facing Republican primary voters in the  6th District is whether to replace Coble and, if so, which one of five challengers they want to send to Washington in his place. Aside from Coble, the contenders include:

• Cathy Brewer Hinson , a furniture showroom manager from High Point.
• Jon Mangin , an IT trainer from Greensboro.
• Jeff Phillips , a financial adviser from Greensboro.
• James Taylor , an anesthesiologist from Pinehurst.
• Billy Yow , the owner of a well drilling business and a Guilford County commissioner. Among the challengers, Yow is the only one to have served in public office.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Sam Turner, a pilot from Salisbury, in the general election. Voter registration in the district favors GOP candidates.

Each of the five challengers takes pains to compliment Coble on his work in Congress, saying in their own way that voters are merely looking for new blood, not looking to punish the incumbent.

“It’s not about what has Mr. Coble done and why do we want to replace him,” Taylor said. “But there always comes a time for a changing of the guard.”

The challengers seem to be relying on an unusually high amount of voter discontent to toss incumbents from office.

Charles Prysby , chairman of the political science department at UNCG, thinks history calls that hope into question.

In 1994 , when Republicans won control of the U.S. House, all incumbents didn’t suffer equally. It was Democrats, who were in control at the time, who bore almost all the losses. That tale was reversed in 2006, when Democrats took control of the U.S. House and GOP incumbents suffered most  of the losses.

“It’s just very hard to make that anti-incumbent argument against someone who is not in the party in power,” Prysby said, noting that Coble is part of the minority party.

John Hood, a conservative political commentator who heads the John Locke Foundation, said any successful primary challenger will have to level a specific set of charges against Coble.

“I would think you’d have to see a lot of personal criticism of Coble by active Republicans at meetings, rallies and that kind of thing,” Hood said. “There would have to be some undercurrent of disaffection.”

For conservative voters, the most likely source of such disaffection with Coble is his 2008 decision to back the bank bailout, or TARP, bill. After first voting against the measure, Coble said he switched his stance later the same week based on feedback from constituents.

“It was probably a vote damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” said Coble, who faces a primary contest for the first time since 1984.

“I think it was terribly engineered, and I was very sad when Howard Coble switched,” Mangin said.

He and Hinson mentioned  the TARP vote as a blemish on Coble’s record.

Others say Coble’s record is largely irrelevant.

“We need to be looking forward,” Yow said. “What he’s voted for is done. This is not about his vote.”

Each of Coble’s challengers were asked why they were running for Congress and what they hoped to do if elected.

Hinson: Hinson said she is running because “somebody with courage” is needed to confront what she sees as a corrupt and timid Congress.

She favors term limits on members of Congress and is opposed to the current health care legislation. On immigration, Hinson favors offering some type of amnesty to foreign workers who have been in the country and otherwise obeyed the law. She, like Taylor, favors a national sales tax to replace the current system of income taxes.

“We need to write bills the way we speak,” Hinson said. Along with Taylor, Hinson says simplifying legislation and the legislative process would help clean up Congress.

Mangin: At age 25, Mangin is the youngest candidate in the race. He said his age will help him stand out.

“ I bring a lot of passion, a lot of energy into the equation,” he said. “I’ll be vocal in representing the interests of the 6th District.”

Mangin said he favors rewriting trade agreements to favor the United States, and he proposes a pilot program to restructure the tax code by offering taxpayers fewer deductions in exchange for exempting more of their salaries from income tax. He also said he would be an anti-abortion  voice.

Phillips: Phillips said he ran for office out of frustration with President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress.

“He talked about change. He talked about bipartisanship and a coming together and crossing the aisle, but he has done very little to indicate that to me,” Phillips said.

If elected, Phillips said he would emphasize efforts to bring jobs to North Carolina.

“It seems to me the lines have been drawn community by community,” he said. Phillips said he’d like to leverage a position in Congress to prod local cities and counties to work together more.

Taylor: He pointed to polls showing that voters have low confidence in Congress but show high trust in doctors, such as himself.

“People know that I care about people,” he said. “They are looking for their congressman to care about them.”

On policy issues, Taylor said he favors the “Fair Tax,” which would be a national sales tax, as a replacement for a national income tax. Like most other challengers in the race, Taylor said he opposes the health care reform bill.

Yow: “It is time that we put someone different in Congress that is willing to take that stand and be the voice of the people and fight,” he said. “We need a voice up there that’s going to be vocal.”

Yow presents himself as a common-sense option who would work with Republicans and Democrats. He said he could represent voters wanting to “work every day. They want to pay their bills. They want the government out of their life.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com