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?
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.
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...
I got another e-mail from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce with their list of endorsements. Surprise surpise, they are not endorsing Joe Moore, and they endorsed my own worthless alderman, Ted "need a zoning change?" Matlak. First the email:
Got more email from the CCC today. The CCC is still trying really hard to influence the upcoming election by blunting the Union vote. Roper's email message is below.
sunday, my wife's family had a celebration dinner, to toast the general election results in congress. it was very interesting, because i am the political pro, and i did very little talking! who knew? but that prompts these questions:
what does the election results mean for democrats? what does it mean for 2008? what does it mean for the country? illinois? cook county? dupage? kane? will? springfield? chicago? you get the idea.
just as importantly, how do *you* feel about it? is this the end, the beginning or just the middle of your own interest (and, hopefully, activism) in electoral politics?
campaigns are about strategy but they are also about the terrain upon which they operate. it?s important to understand the context of a campaign, or the decisive influences that generally determine its outcome. lee atwater, borrowing heavily from sun tzu, argued that five things generally determine the outcome of a campaign:
1. The Candidate
2. Money
3. The (mostly political) Environment or Structural Situation
4. The Local Climate
5. Consultants/Organization
these factors are not in any order. each campaign is different, and the decisive element will be different from campaign to campaign.
Campaigns & elections hew to some pretty straight forward "fundamentals:" money, message and mobilization (or organization). I've personally made it a practice to write out a post-campaign "message box" from which it is generally obvious who won and why. But post-election analyses are key to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your campaign, especially it's strategy and tactics.
Use this as an open thread to analyze or make observations about Illinois campaigns. What did they do right? What did they do wrong? What would have been better? What did you learn this year? What could you do better (if you were the campaign strategist)?
it must be my month to notice the wayward notions of my progressive friends. i'd reiterate up front that whenever i speak out against the emergent conventional wisdom, it's never appreciated. cie la vie.
first of all, congratulations to all the winners out there the day after the election! that goes to the thousands and thousands of progressives who got out there and worked for their favorite candidates (win or lose). democrats are winners for that -- we've increased the activist base and gained valuable experience regardless of their campaign's results.
let's be absolutely clear here, i'm no friend of rahm. i've talked to him once, and it wasn't exactly a friendly conversation. but rahm did a great job as the head of the dccc. here's why:
(great piece and perfect for the site - promoted by wjmaggos)
Although the “temporary” (read: indefinite) closing of the Washington Street leg of the Pedway deterred me, I bundled up and hiked over to the Cook County Administration Building yesterday to vote. (For some odd reason, my initial attempt to register to vote when I got my new Illinois driver’s license didn’t “stick” as they had no record of me when I tried to find out if I was registered to vote. Fortunately, there was a “grace period” that ended yesterday allowing voters to register and vote “early” even if they missed the usual cut-off. Score one for voter enfranchisement.)
Voting, for me, is sort of a thrill. When I was in high school, I looked forward to my first opportunity to vote more than I did to the other rites of passage such as buying cigarettes (I still don’t think I’ve ever bought a pack), lottery tickets (never bought one of those either), legalized gambling (nope), credit cards (too many), and so on. In college, I finally got to cast my first ballot in a presidential election, absentee. Later, in New York, I waited in a long line to vote for John Kerry and John Edwards. Like everyone else, the long lines and the early exit polls made me think we might effectively be rid of Mr. Bush by the end of that day. Not so much. Disappointment is a lesson you learn soon after you cast your first (losing) vote.
I'm prompted to write this in response to a comment made on my blog in response to my commentary on Peter Roskam's racist ads. A poster wrote, "the only good Roskam is a dead Roskam"...and the alarm bells went off.
I am not at all a fan of Peter Roskam's. I do not agree with his stance on the issues. I think his personal and legislative history shows him to be someone with a rather dishonorable past. I do not want him to be my Congressman. In fact, I'd rather that he not be in government at all.
But never in a million years would I be happy about it if Peter Roskam was to drop dead tomorrow. Never in a million years would I rejoice in a family's tragedy and a young life cut short. Never would I wish for someone to die because I deemed their choices in life to be wrong.
