U.S. Rep Brad Miller of North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District admits that he’s already started to “get to know people” in the 4th Congressional District, currently represented by fellow Democrat David Price:

Rep. Brad Miller, who has all but said he is challenging fellow Rep. David Price in next year’s Democratic primary in North Carolina, is continuing to walk a fine rhetorical line when it comes to what he plans to do in 2012.

Two court cases are challenging the new lines, and Miller told Roll Call last Thursday he is standing “shoulder to shoulder” with the Democrats in the delegation in support of them. But he also has been campaigning in the new 4th and admits as much.

“I am the working the district as drawn by the Legislature — [the map] that we’re still contesting,” he said. But he also is appearing at events in his current 13th district, which was reconfigured by GOP mapmakers to heavily favor Republicans. “I’m trying both to represent the district I was elected to represent in 2010 and to get to know people in the district the Legislature has drawn … that I live in now,” Miller said.

According to a poll from Price’s campaign, Miller would face a significant disadvantage in the primary from the start. The poll had Price taking 46 percent of the vote to Miller’s 25 percent (29 percent were undecided).