I posted a long diary on Daily Kos regarding the primary race in IL 03.
It's all in the extended text of this diary.
The bottom line is that district-wide Lipinski lost a mere 0.64 points from '06 to '08.
Pera gained 5.55 points over Sullivan, and the two diversions this time lost 4.88 points from Kelly's figure. (This should add up, and doesn't quite.)
The results were varied from one section of the district to another. Lipinski lost 2.24 points in the suburbs, gained 2.72 points in the city outside the 11th ward, and lost 4.98 points in the 11th ward. The reformer (comparing Pera to Sullivan) gained 6.41 points in the suburbs, 6.61 points in the 11th ward, and lost 3.08 points in the rest of the city.
This will need to be a group process. I surely hope it is going on in private as well as what will/should appear here.
I think we all knew that taking down the machine was a big job. I think we all knew that the odds were against us. I think we all know that in order to win you have to believe that you can win, and that that sometimes means not looking the reality full in the face.
But still I think we all thought we would have done better than we did. The resounding silence here about Pera is a testament to our disappointment at not even being close.
Now moving on, lets discuss what happened and what did not happen and what we can realistically expect to be able to do in the future. Not what we can do better, but what can we expect to accomplish having only what we have now. I'm hesitant at discussing what we can do better "next" time. Such discussions can devolve into wishful thinking. Lets keep it real for the moment.
I'm putting this out there on the back page to begin collecting some thoughts. No hurry. It does behoove us to do this though, because as many of us as possible need to learn the lessons of this effort.
The left-wing extremist groups trying to defeat Congressman Lipinski are political punks who snicker and sneer at Southwest Siders like us. They laugh at traditional values. They mock people who go to church. They dismiss senior citizens as irrelevant relics of a bygone era. They look down their educated noses at blue-collar men and women who work for a living. They bad-mouth police and other public safety employees - except when they need a cop, of course. And they give the finger (figuratively and literally) to the men and women of the American military.
DownWithTyranny is reporting that Rep. Luis Gutierrez is un-endorsing Lipinski.
But, like so many politicians from Chicago, regardless of how they are on national issues-- and Gutierrez is good-- when it comes to local issues, the Machine rules. He's almost a mini version of Dick Durbin, an excellent progressive in Washington, but a pathetic hack and tool at home. So it came as quite the shock in Chicagoland politics today when Gutierrez officially withdrew his endorsement of Lipinski. But bitter disappointment from progressives didn't figure into the unprecedented action Gutierrez took today.
CHICAGO--The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) has learned that Congressman Luis Gutierrez withdrew his endorsement of Congressman Dan Lipinski based on Congressman Lipinski's poor voting record on immigration issues. One-fifth of the district's residents are immigrants, yet Cong. Lipinski has not represented this part of his constituency.
Rep. Lipinski voted for the Sensenbrenner enforcement bill and the border fence. He voted to reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act. He even voted for an amendment that would have punished Chicago, his own city, because it refuses to inquire about immigration status when offering police protection and other vital services."
At the same time, Rep. Lipinski has refused to support measures such as the DREAM Act to help undocumented students realize their full potential. He also refused to support the STRIVE Act, the bill co-sponsored by his Illinois colleague, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, that would offer a path for hardworking immigrants in his district and throughout the country to earn legal status and eventually become full members of our society.
From Down With Tyranny comes this report on the Pera campaign (donate here or here, or volunteer here ) in IL-03 and immigrant support. I'm used to the hard numbers out of NDFA rather than the "expects to" numbers listed below. Still it's a very impressive effort:
And immigrant activism has gone much further. The Mexican and Muslim communities have collaborated on fundraising for the Pera Campaign, bringing in thousands of dollars locally and using the money to open a second campaign office and to hire two experienced immigrant organizers to mobilize Mexican and Muslim voters.
In addition the immigrants in the campaign have recruited Immigrants List to make this campaign a national target. An e-mail fundraising request went to over 18,000 people nationally and raised an additional $14,000 for the immigrant organizing in the Pera campaign. Finally, the national Campaign for Community Change (the 501c4 sister organization to the Center for Community Change) decided to send a first in the nation series of bi-lingual educational mail pieces, informing Latino voters in the district of Lipinski's vote for the Sensenbrenner legislation.
Over the course of the campaign this volunteer driven immigrant field operation expects to have:
• lit dropped 2,300 Arab households and sent an additional 2,300 a "dear neighbor" letter
• lit dropped 7,300 latino households
• mailed 23,000 Latinos with an immigration specific piece
• mailed 23,000 Latino households 5 times with regular Pera literature
• called 3,000 immigrant voters through a phone bank
• doorknocked 5,000 immigrant voters through a canvas
• Involved over 300 Mexican and Muslim volunteers in the Pera campaign
I was canvassing in Chciago's 11th Ward (Northern-most edge of IL-3 Congressional District) as part of Northside DFA's work on behalf of grassroots/netroots candidate Mark Pera today (Saturday). According to my "walk sheet" the house I was approaching had an elderly Democratic voter. As is often the case, this voter no longer lived there. I began to deliver my pitch to the new occupant, but the woman who answered the door stopped me when I talked about electing a Congressman with REAL Democratic values.
She told me she was a Republican because "I want the niggers to have to get up for work every morning just like I do."
in the course of writing the illinois congressional primary roundups, i asked to interview each of the candidates who are competing for the democratic nomination in the 3rd, 10th and 14th congressional districts. last night, i interviewed jerry bennett, who's running in il-03.
jerry's a personable fellow, with a strong sense of civic duty. steeped in the chicago tradition, i got a sense of an alinsky-inspired "let's organize our neighborhood" spirit in bennett.
the questions i asked (which will be the questions asked of all the candidates who participate before the primary) came from my experience of what voters tend to ask candidates at their door, in coffees or townhall meetings. candidates who have regularly contact with voters should be familiar with these questions, and the point here was to offer bennett the opportunity to put his best foot forward. it's not hardball and i'm not tim russert. i also asked the questions from bloggers suggested here.
the most important news at this point is that early voting has begun. for those who live in illinois' 3rd congressional district, the ballot positions are:
all the democrats in this race have filed their voter guide questions. lipinski's response states "I have also been a leader in the battle to responsibly bring our troops home from Iraq." pera's response argues that "More than anything else, voters are tired of politicians in Washington D.C. who are beholden to special interests and they are fed up with the nepotism and corruption that we see from the Lipinskis and the Strogers of Cook County." bennett's response observes:
During those 27 years [as mayor], I've worked with my fellow mayors and other public officials to transform the town and our region. We've come up with innovative solutions for building infrastructure, improving law enforcement and securing a safer environment.
Just a quick reminder that if you haven't contributed that the 5,000 new donations for Mark Pera national campaign, it is still on and going strong! (Or donate here.)
Update: Oh and if you will be voting for Dan Lipinski be sure to follow the advice on his website to take advantage of early voting:
Can't make it to your polling place on election day? You can
now vote between Feb 27 and March 16 by visiting one of about
100 early voting sites throughout Cook County.
Emphasis mine!
Otherwise if you will be early voting for Mark then take David Orr's advice:
Prior to the Tuesday, February 05, 2008 Presidential Primary Election, early voting will take place
Monday, January 14, 2008, through Thursday, January 31, 2008.
Note: crossposted from daily kos. Please recommend if you feel so inclined.
On November 17, 2007, just two months ago today, Rahm Emanual's "Our Common Values" PAC made a $2,500 contribution to Congressman Dan Lipinski's reelection campaign.
AFTER Lipinski challenger Mark Pera's endorsement by Daily Kos, Open Left and Swing State Project
AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, and Down with Tyranny
AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by DFA
AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by NARAL Pro-Choice America
and AFTER Mark Pera's endorsement by my local DFA group, Northside DFA.
Which means when my DFA friends and I were out there freezing our toenails off knocking on doors trying to get rid of Lipinski and elect Mark Pera, when Kossacks and FDLers and the rest of the netroots were scrounging for couch change to try to get rid of Lipinski and elect Mark Pera, Rahm was writing a check to help Lipinski's re-election campaign.
I've been campaigning for Mark Pera in the 11th Ward. It's a nearly-isolated island of the 3d Congressional District. As Yoda wrote earlier, we have seen nobody else out for this race. (I mean nobody out for the other three candidates. We have seen non-members of NDFA help us. Most Pera volunteers who aren't involved in our group campaign elsewhere.)
I've seen one states-attorney candidate's flyers and something for a guy who'w running for Republican committeeman. I've seen a mailing from a state-senate candidate in an open mailbox. I've seen nothing from Bennet or Caparelli.
You've probably heard that MoveOn.org is soliciting funds for Donna Edwards primary challenge of incumbent Al Wynn in MD04. MoveOn said they polled their members in MD04 to see if they wanted MoveOn to endorse Edwards in her primary challenge.
Edwards and Pera are in similar situations. The two are often cited as the main progressive primary challengers of bush-dog democrats. Here is a post by Kos.
Time is running short (in fact the MD primary is after IL) and I don't know if it will work, but let me urge you to write to MoveOn and tell them to get behind Mark too. Unfortunately the only contact I have is this online suggestion form for MoveOn.
I'm assuming you guys are probably moveon members. If you know other moveon members in the district, please urge them to write to MoveOn too.
The corporatist Chicago Tribune, fellow travelers with the Chicago Machine, has endorsed Mark Pera's (website, donate, NDFA volunteer) opponent Dan Lipinski, heir to Bill Lipinski's political fortunes.
How sophisticated an endorsement is that? In other words, "What do they know?" Well consider that they think Lipinski is finishing his first term in office - "he's growing into the job in his first full term". Nice going Trib. My how time passes when you're having fun, eh?
It would be much easier to endorse him if he didn't have such a cozy political relationship with his father, former Rep. William Lipinski. The father installed his son in his old seat and is now a lobbyist. The congressman's chief of staff gets paid to do work for something called the All American Eagle Fund, which the elder Lipinski created to pay for some local youth programs and funnels campaign contributions to other politicians. Lipinski, the son, has to tell his chief of staff he works for him, and only him.
A national push is on to raise $5,000 collect 5,000 new donations for Mark Pera's bid (Or donate here.) to unseat Dan Lipinski in Illinois Cd 03. DailyKos, OpenLeft and and other national blogs are joining local blogs, like PSB and ArchPundit in a co-ordinated effort to quickly raise last minute funds.
The national blogs are keenly aware of Lipinski's Republican lite leanings and his Bush enabling ways that have caused Openleft to place him in the Bush Dog club. These are the anti-progressive members of Congress whose inability to take the fight to the Bush regime have so hobbled the the Democratic leadership, who themselves need all the encouragement they can get in order to have Congress begin to meet the expectations of the national electorate. As long as we have Lipinski's we're going to get foot dragging on issues like the Iraq occupation and war.
But what the national blogs are less aware of is another insidious aspect of the Lipinski nepotism. That is the issue of inherited political office here in Illinois and the danger that it presents for a return to Republican governance. If we progressives are not able to successfully challenge the manifestations of the Chicago machine, there is a strong chance that Republicans will ride the reform desire of the electorate back into power. We saw it once already with the too close race against Todd Stroger by Republicans in Cook County. Indeed many readers here at this very blog voted Republican in that race.
But if we and Mark Pera can defeat machine heir Lipinski in IL-03 we can demonstrate an ability for progressives to remove machine politicians without the need to resort voting with Republicans. Indeed we can begin to attract the moderate and liberal Republicans to our cause.
That, for me, is what makes this race so important.
Yesterday I was out going door-to-door for Mark Pera, who is running for Congress in IL-03, a seat currently held by pro-war, anti-choice, machine "Democrat" Dan Lipinski. Our Northside DFA group has been canvassing precincts for Mark in Chicago's 11th Ward for a while now, but yesterday was my first time going out in the new year. Below are a few random stories/observations.
One of the first things we did when we got there was deliver window signs. At the first address the owner of the house was standing out on the front steps with her young child chatting with a neighbor. When we handed her the sign the child asked, "Mom, who's Mark Pera?" and she replied, "He's the one that's going to get rid of that lisping fool."
The Doings, the Sun-Times News Group local paper, has a lot of dedicated readers in Hinsdale and Western Springs. Seems they like Pera, a Western Springs resident:
If change is the theme of this election year, voters in the 3rd Congressional District have a rare opportunity to move away from a political system where positions -- be they government workers or elected representatives -- are bequeathed rather than earned. Of the qualified Democrats seeking the nomination, Western Springs resident Mark Pera is the best choice to unseat incumbent Daniel Lipinski.
Read the whole thing here. Congratulations to the Pera campaign!
