(promoted per blog practice. however, someone from the campaign really does need to answer gary's question... - promoted by bored now)
Julie kicked off the week at the Hadassah-sponsored congressional candidates debate at Am Shalom synagogue in Glencoe.
Connecting with the crowd of more than 150 men and women, Julie shared her family’s story of escape from Communist Hungary during the 1956 revolution. She also discussed how, as the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Israel is more than simply a political platform or policy position for her. She has a deep, personal connection with the United States’ only Democratic ally in the Middle East.
“I am proud to be running for Congress in a district which values Israel and expects its Congresswoman to be a passionate advocate for Israel,” she said. “That’s what I will be.”
Like many of the 10th District's residents, health care was also on the minds of attendees. As the Republican candidates made clear their opposition to health care reform, Julie stood up for Americans in need of quality, affordable health care. Voicing her strong support for the Affordable Health Care Act and the public health insurance option Julie stated:
“We have the opportunity to provide access to quality health care for all Americans. This is a key moment in time.”
Julie made clear that while the Affordable Health Care Act was a significant achievement, she is adamantly opposed to the Stupak amendment, which would limit women’s reproductive rights more than any legislation in recent history.
Since the 2002 redistricting, the northern half of the 18th Representative District lies in the 10th Congressional District, so naturally (I thought) it made sense, despite the odd date, to hang out on Halloween with the district-wide group, 10th Congressional District Democrats, that Lauren Beth Gash has invigorated up north, especially since Howard Dean was the guest speaker. Apparently too many folks must have felt the New Trier Democratic dinner the week before was enough 10th CD action for them, since a number of candidates weren't present. But I thought it worthy enough to both attend and blog.
Julie Hamos spoke before Northside DFA at their October meeting, talking about why she's running for Congress in Illinois's 10th Congressional District.
Hamos had previously spoken before the group, but this time as a candidate for Congress in the Democratic primary. Questions were again pointed, but handled with aplomb.
I know there's the whole money thing, but really I think the trade offs are worth it. Often especially if your opponent is breezing into their primary slot. So the voters in the 10th are going to be treated to an exciting action-packed Democratic primary and then be ready for the real thing come September.
I have to admit to being among those that think Seals should have gracefully bowed out. I also agree that having a election-tested and winning Hamos taking on an also election-tested Coulson is better than an already tried and unsuccessful Seals taking her on.
Despite his office being bombarded with calls from rabid, out-of-state Rush Limbaugh listeners, Mark Kirk did a good job of representing his district when he became one of eight Republicans who voted for the Waxman-Markey energy and jobs bill.
Now that he's running for US Senate, his district is a top target for Democrats. Announced candidates are already appealing to eco-voters in the 10th Congressional.
I'm pretty far from the district, but I know about the strong environmental record of Julie Hamos, who declared her candidacy today. She has been particularly outspoken on the Clean Car Act and energy efficiency, which are both mentioned on her issues page.
IL-10: Top GOP Candidate Reconsidering 2010 Plans Beth Coulson, a state legislator seen as one of the GOP's best hopes to retain the seat held by newly-minted Senate candidate Mark Kirk, appeared to have shut the door on such a bid earlier this week. Now, according to Illinois' Capitol Fax blog, Coulson might be reconsidering. In an email to supporters, she seems to indicate that she feels an obligation to at least consider a Congressional bid. Democrat Dan Seals moved into the role of Democratic frontrunner with his candidacy announcement earlier this week.
We heard across the board -- in private -- substantial, continuing and rising concern," Representative Mark Kirk said after a trip to China that included talks with government officials and central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan.
It's clear that China would like to diversify from its dollar investments, the lawmaker said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.
Isn't this contrary to what Sec Geithner said, who represented our government in China last week? Geithner told "the Chinese leaders had expressed justifiable confidence on the future of the recession-hit US economy."
Mark Kirk. U. S. Rep. Mark Kirk, preferred by GOP ticket-planners to run for either governor or senator, will decline both jobs in order to seek reelection to his House seat, I have been told on what I believe is excellent authority.
Mark Kirk likes to pretend that he's a moderate. But the fact is, he's no moderate -- he's voted with George Bush 90% of the time. By comparison, the ultra conservative Peter Roskam has voted with George Bush 90% of the time.
At least Roskam is honest. Mark Kirk doesn't have Roskam's integrity. Despite being the chosen candidate for the Club for Growth, Kirk has long pretended that he was "independent" and a political moderate. Kirk obviously thinks that his constituents are stupid.
So it came as no surprise when the Neo-Con independent group, Freedom's Watch, invaded the IL-10's airwaves in support of Mark Kirk. While Kirk may try to represent himself as an independent or political moderate, inside the Beltway, his friends know that they can count on him. Just as they can count on ultra-conservative Peter Roskam.
So what's the difference between Mark Kirk and Peter Roskam?
Image, of course. In politics, image is everything. Voters are supposed to ignore the wizard behind the curtain.
Mark Kirk says that he's a moderate, but he has the same voting record (in this regard) as Peter Roskam. Mark Kirk says that he's independent, but he has the same loyalty towards the president and his party as Peter Roskam.
Peter Roskam will tell you that he's a conservative. At least he's honest about it. But that's probably because Roskam has stronger ties to his district than Mark Kirk. Roskam represents what he believes his district wants. Kirk pretends to.
Just received this in my email box from the Seals campaign:
SurveyUSA, an automated polling firm, conducted the surveys for Roll Call on Saturday and Sunday (WHAS-TV in Louisville was a partner on the poll in Indiana's 9th district). Each poll tested more than 600 voters and had an error margin of roughly 4 points (for complete details, see chart at right).
In Illinois' 10th district, marketing consultant Dan Seals (D) led Rep. Mark Kirk (R) 52 percent to 44 percent.
Rest of the Roll Call story on IL-10 after the fold.
21st Century Democrats is running a contest to send field organizers to the top 3 Congressional candidates with netroots support. Dan Seals has made it to the 2nd (and final) round and needs your help.
Dan's Waukegan office was burglarized. Seals' campaign manager Pat Mogge said,
First they tried to break down the back door, then they hurled something through the front and they robbed us. Police are currently looking for suspects.
I am just happy that no one was hurt.
For those who have never been to the office, this is where we welcome voters, launch canvassing drives, host phone banks, and hold forums.
It is a vital part of our efforts to engage and support a community that has had more than its fair share of challenges.
I don't know who broke into our office, but I know we can't let them stop us.
A special ActBlue page has been set up to help the Seals Campaign rebuild in Waukegan. Here's some of what they are going to need to rebuild the Waukegan office:
Northshore Barbie is still on Illinois soil and will make it to Denver tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, I want to highlight one of the activists building grassroots support. She happens to be a high school friend who is tireless in her efforts. Without further ado, let me tell her story.
Meredith Wheeler grew up in IL-10 and now lives in southwestern, France with her English husband. Despite the pull of her friends and family, she has not returned home recently. She has vowed that George Bush has to be out of the White House so she can visit and reclaim her country. So, to get her country back, she's been working really long hours to get Barack in that White House. As part of that effort, Meredith volunteers as Chair of the Toulouse Chapter of Democrats Abroad France and organizes all kinds of events. She was one of the organizers of the Democrats Abroad historic phone call supporting Dan Seals in his 2006 Congressional race. Covered by Time Magazine, Democrats Abroad took their support seriously and got the word out about Dan and his effort to unseat Mark Kirk.
Yesterday we were all amused by brownsox' Kos post about Mark Kirk's admitted inclusion of the sexist song Baby Got Back in his iPod list particularly in light of his recent votes against gender pay equity. However, today it's not all that funny in light of an email he sent to constituents this morning defending his vote against the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Second quarter filing deadline is up, and below is a handy chart of fundraising courtesy of James at SSP:
Roskam is crushing Morgenthaler. Bean is sitting on a pile of cash. Kirk is outraising Seals and also sitting on a pile of cash. Ozinga had a really good quarter but Halvorson is still ahead in cash on hand. Harper and Biggert had similar quarters, but Biggert is winning the CoH race. Foster is kicking Oberweis to the curb. Abboud not so much. And Schock is pulling away.
Northside (Chicago) DFA sent three of us up into the northern suburbs to canvass for Dan Seals, who came close to beating Mark Kirk in '06. He's running again, starting with the people he recruited and teh lessons he learned last time.
Turns out that the campaign was holding a "United for Change" event before we went out. I'll talk more about that after the jump.
the campaign provided us with a list of supposedly swing voters. (In Illinois, where you don't register by party, this consists of people who don't vote in primaries or vote in different primaries different years.) So, in a couple of hours, two of us nearly covered the limited list of names we'd received from a precinct. The driver was in a different precinct with a walk sheet covering only half the precinct. My experience after the jump.
