(above: St. Charles County, Missouri voters line up a hundred deep as the polls open at 6:00)
After careening down unfamiliar roads in pre-dawn murk, surviving the lack of both an interior dome light and sufficient dosages of coffee, I made it to my polling place and, now halfway thru the day find myself with both some time to breathe and wireless Internet (the latter just installed this summer by the St. Charles library district), so will offer this quick report.
(Missouri will tease us, possibly for days, with a long wait before they "show us". - promoted by wegerje)
In contrast to the economic carnage so visible in the previous day's canvassing, my Sunday's sojourn took me through a neighborhood much more at peace with itself. I was assigned to a precinct again on the far north of St. Louis city, but in a quiet, stable residential area in the shadow of the Archer-Daniels-Midland milling plant (visible in the background above), as well as a large Catholic church.
This was the type of neighborhood of which too many white Americans are unaware: solid enclaves of middle-class African-American. The brick bungalows and modest but sturdy frame houses of this area generally had well-tended lawns, gardens featuring large canna plants, welcoming ornamentation and floral arrangements on the porches and doors, and an almost complete absence of the ripped-out doorbells and dangling light fixtures seen in my last diary. In appearance it was interchangeable with any number of neighborhoods in Chicago, of any ethnicity.
Overturning Republican State Senator Dan Cronin's efforts to restrict DuPage County candidate ballot access, Democratic State Senator Don Harmon and Democratic State Representative Paul Froehlich sponsored a bill passed in the Illinois General Assembly last Friday that requires DuPage candidates to collect the same number of signatures to get on the ballot as is required by every other county in Illinois. The legislation moves to Governor Rod Blagojevich's desk, where he is expected to sign it into law.
Progressive Donna Edwardsshows Bush dog Al Wynn the door in district MD-4. Edwards was supported by PDA, DFA, and many other progressive groups and communities.
SEIU executive director Terry Cavanagh put the contest in context, recounting his conversation with a member of Congress who wondered "Why are you doing this to Al Wynn? There are worse Democrats than Al Wynn."
MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE *************************************
Col. Morgenthaler's campaign plays a weird game of "will she or won't she"after having already announced that she will to local Democratic activists and party leaders. This leaves those of us in the trenches scratching out heads, then shrugging our shoulders, then thinking "whatever, at least someone seemingly credible is running". Perhaps we're thrown for a bit of a loop due to how a last minute candidacy was handled the last time around. None of us knew until she was in, while this time we knew Jill was in before she was. I think that may have been the appearance the Morgenthaler campaign was going for, anyway.
A coalition of progressive organizations has put together a Progressive Agenda for candidates for President and Congress. This agenda is pasted below the fold.
Questions for discussion:
1) Is this a good platform for our federal office candidates to adopt? If not, what would you change?
2) How can we get our federal candidates to sign on?
3) Could we come up with something similar at the state or county level?
*Title is a play on the title of Bridget's post on Rob Bisceglie's behalf, and meant in playful jest...
So the struggle for the leadership of DuPage Democrats has heated up, with two candidates vying for the position of County Chair. In reaction to posts I made here and here, Bridget posted a response on behalf of Rob Bisceglie here. The response, like out going Chairman Ferarro's resignation letter, makes some rather significant claims regarding Peickert's character. Since Ferarro is whole heartedly endorsing Bisceglie, this seems significant. In light of this, I'd like to include parts of Peickert's response on the record here at PSB.
First, Peickert on unity and the distraction of a special election:
It is not divisive to speak your mind about a system that has not been as effective as it needs to be. And it is not sensible to continue following that same pattern of leadership and expect miraculously different results. However, in order to dispel any lingering perception of divisiveness, OTDB will happily forego the rigors of a special election and will not oppose Rob for interim chair. And, so there is no misunderstanding, I will run for the position of Chair of the DuPage County Democratic Party at the 2008 county convention when all of the newly elected precinct committeemen will be allowed to vote for the person they believe should lead the party for the next 2 years. Any debate or discussion of the future of the party can continue after the candidate petition drive is over and the petitions are filed.
Specifics of Peickert's accomplishments as Chair of Operation Turn DuPage Blue, and a direct rebuttal of Bisceglie's characterization of events after the jump...
The consolidated elections on April 17, 2007, had two valid write-in candidates for Sub-District 1 for the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority (SMEAA). Liam McDonnell and Judy Yeager were the write-in candidates for the autonomous eleven-member board that administers the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois. Throughout the precincts in Sub-District 1, the voters cast their ballots for them, and the count reflected those ballots except one - Capitol Precinct 91. One of the top voting precincts in Sub-District 1 reported only one write-in vote through an absentee ballot. Local authorities appeared willing to accept zero write-in votes from voters who cast their votes in the polling place that day. Others were slightly less gullible.
In the past week or so, I've been stunned to read some of the things written here about Rob Bisceglie. I admire Rob greatly for his dedication to progressive causes and to our party, his unique educational and professional background, and his willingness to put his life on hold to run for office when no one else would. But, most of all, I admire Rob for being a stand-up guy and a good friend.
Admittedly, I don't get to as many meetings as I would like to, but I was under the impression that most DuPage Democrats see Rob in the same light as I do. I know that people were very proud and excited about his run for state rep.!
So imagine my surprise when I read all this nasty business about Rob written in the past few days. I feel like Rob has been misrepresented on Prairie State Blue so I asked him to set the record straight. Since Rob doesn't really do blogs, I asked him to prepare a response to what was posted here and I promised to post it. You can read what he has to say after the jump!
Elections in Chicago that aren't already a done deal long before the first ballot is cast are pretty rare, which is why when someone retires, leaving an open seat, it is pretty big news. Hence this diary on the retirement of Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine. Devine has been making headlines lately for his aggressive efforts to force Todd Stroger to raise the pay of prosecutors. And I have always appreciated his contribution to our trifecta of Chicago politicians with funny "dick" names: Dick Devine, Dick Phalen (president of the Cook County Board before John Stroger) and Dick Daley.
Democratic Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine won't seek a fourth term next year, deciding instead to cash out in the private sector before retirement. [...]
A longtime friend of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Devine served as first assistant state's attorney when Daley held that office. Devine claimed it for his own in 1996 when he upset Republican Jack O'Malley, who is now a state appellate judge living in McHenry County. [...] His office put out a release noting Devine prosecuted 140 police officers during his tenure. The release did not mention Devine was running the office as Daley's top aide in the 1980s when then-Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge was torturing crime suspects, most of them black, and some of whom ended up on death row for crimes they didn't commit. [...]
Potential Democratic candidates for the Feb. 5 primary include county Sheriff Tom Dart, several county board members, and the already announced Chicago Alderman Howard Brookins. On the Republican side, County Commissioner Tony Peraica plans to jump in the race next week. Peraica lost to Stroger for county board chairman last November.
this *could* be good news for democrats here in illinois -- if they are resolved to take some of these seats from republicans. more importantly, it hints at the possibility of once red states turning purple. "Among the findings of the Rural Strategies poll are: Rural voters deliver a narrow plurality to a generic Democratic candidate for President: 46 - 43 percent."
A response from Amy of O:TDB, who reminds Michael that there is no "r" in her name. :)
Operation: Turn DuPage Blue is thrilled at the movement that is going on here in DuPage. Tension is a result of any transformational process (a necessity, in fact) and OTDB is part of the transformational process in DuPage democracy so it's no surprise the two are being associated. Democrats of all stripes all over DuPage are working together, challenging each other, and regrouping in an effort to — like rocks in one of those noisy polishers — bring out our best qualities as well as toughen up for the task ahead.
"If we don't fix global warming now, there may not be any America as we know it left. There may not be hospitable places left for our children and our grandchildren to live." - Jotham Stein, (D-IL).
Americans have come to the consensus that man-made pollution is causing the gradual warming of our global climate. Such changes to our atmosphere will be catastrophic if we do nothing about them. Rising temperatures cause ice caps in the Arctic to melt making sea levels rise and strengthening the size and speed of major storms and hurricanes. At its worst, global warming could eventually lead to drought, flooding, famine, mass migration and eventually war... or worse. I don't know about you, but that's not exactly how I'd imagined living out my retirement.
Politicians in D.C. seem to have caught on to the fact that Americans are aware of what's happening to our environment and what's causing it. They've met our concern and awareness with a lot of talk, but very little action. Jotham Stein wants to change that and as the next congressman of Illinois' 14th district, he will.
Jotham Stein is a business and employment attorney from St. Charles, IL who negotiates fast-paced business deals for high-tech industries. He is running for the U.S. Congress in the 14th district of Illinois, the seat currently occupied by former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. He will face possibly four challengers in the Democratic primary next February. Jotham believes that global warming presents our nation with an opportunity to regain our moral authority in the world while creating jobs, ending our oil addiction and cleaning up our environment. Jotham Stein has a 10-point plan to stop global warming and one of his priorities is to make it easier for people to buy fuel-efficient vehicles. Take the jump to learn more...
i am a voracious consumer of data. it's partly because i am a scientist, partly because i am innately curious, and partly because i am driven to understand the things in which i am interested. i wish i was interested in simple, or simplistic, things.
so when i saw this report that argues that republicans are happier than democrats, i had to take note. i'm interested in the differences between republicans and democrats, for a lot of reasons. i live in a mixed household (liberal democrat and a democrat turned republican turned independent), but also because i was utterly dismayed that the anti-war forces in this country were so disorganized that they didn't even factor in to bush's decision to invade iraq. this has been a constant theme over the last four years.
one of the things effected by this conclusion is wedge politics. hold on, we're in for a ride. if i don't make this abundantly clear, then let me know.
i participated in a one hour and forty minute conference call -- people who know me know how much i hate conference calls, but -- with more than two dozen political groups and a representative from the dccc this morning. the subject was the beginnings of the 2008 congressional cycle.
one of the reasons (i think) i was asked to participate was because i've been bitching furiously with east coast contacts about the illinois cycle moving up the primary to february 5, and how that meant that some of these groups need to be ready to endorse early, at least in illinois.
it's been 10 years since i was brought over to britain to run four constituencies (electoral districts) for "new labour" and tony blair. i took the job with the campaign because they would allow me to implement my high tech campaign ideas that the dole presidential campaign wouldn't.
tony blair and peter mandelson, new labour's campaign manager (as we'd call him and my boss), were keen to incorporate new campaign technology, including the internet, into their appeal. as part of their effort to redefine the labour party, they wanted not only to mobilize people who they hadn't reached in years, but they wanted some of the excitement people then associated with the net.
Just came across a recent press release from the Chicago Board of Elections, it's available on their home page:
http://www.chicagoelections.com/index.htm
Early Voting turnouts for the twelve Chicago wards with aldermanic run-offs have more than doubled the rate of the municipal elections in February, the Chicago Election Board announced Monday.
“Through Sunday, Early Voting had drawn 5,324 voters or 443 per ward, compared to 214 per ward at this point in February and 249 per ward at this point last fall,” said Chicago Election Board Chairman Langdon D. Neal. “The numbers point to: (1) more voter interest and activity; (2) campaigns rallying around this system; and, (3) Early Voting perhaps reducing the use of absentee voting.”
The press release lists the number of early votes for each of the wards with elections.
It looks like Obama may have some new competition. Insight Magazine is reporting that Al Gore is considering running for President on the Green Party ticket in 2008. Ralph Nader has been active in trying to recruit him; and Gore has not rejected the offer, according to sources close to Gore.
From Phil Huckelberry, phone: 309-268-9974, email: phil.huckelberry@gmail.com: It turns out that Carol Larson is not only running unopposed for Oak Lawn-Hometown School Board, she's actually one of two candidates on the ballot for three seats. That third seat I'm calling an "empty election".
I had a fabulous day yesterday, best day I've had in a long time, as a matter of fact. It was sunny, not too cold and it was Valentine's Day - le Jour d'Amour. However, I can't say I was feeling any love from Alderman Bernard Stone's daughter and Chief of Staff, Ilana Stone Feketitsch.
A little background before I move on to the fun stuff...
