again, the most important news is that early voting has begun. for those who live in illinois' 10th congressional district, the ballot positions for the primary election are:
After a short 11-month campaign and a lot of hard work, Dan shocked the pundits and incumbent Mark Kirk by winning 47 percent in the election. Dan is vying for the seat again in 2008, and this time with even more support.
this race isn't generating as much coverage as the others, simply because it is turning out to be not much of a race. the endorsement interview at the chicago tribune can be found here:
if you watch this video, which was ended abruptly where others were extended, the interviewer asks jay footlik the question that is on everyone's mind: why are you running, and "risk the possibility of perhaps splitting sensibilities among democrats when he (seals) came so close last time?" it's the question on many democrat's minds in the tenth.
from one of my early posts about il-10, i mentioned that in conference calls i've had with people in washington and around the country, no one ever asked how jay footlik was doing. one poster challenged that. so at my next opportunity in talking with someone at the d-trip, i asked why that was. the response i got was a question: did i know about his connection to monica lewinsky?
i wouldn't have mentioned it, because i think footlik has plenty of problems without dredging up something that he no doubt considers a minor event in his life. but now the capitol hill newspaper (and website) roll call has this:
Footlik's Lewinsky 'Footnote'
December 5, 2007
By Emily Heil and Anna Palmer, Roll Call Staff
If Jay Footlik makes it to Congress, he may have some apologizing to do to his fellow Democrats for playing a minor but key role in the early days of President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. At the time, Footlik, who is running in Illinois' 10th district, worked in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. It was Footlik who escorted Lewinsky - whom he knew from her days working at a tie store in a California mall - to the West Wing for one of the smitten intern's early encounters with Clinton, according to an interview by FBI agents, as detailed by the Office of the Independent Counsel's famous must-read Starr report. Lewinsky had asked Footlik to escort her because she wanted to give Clinton a Christmas gift and she didn't have a pass that would allow her to walk unescorted into the West Wing.
The contest will be one of the most expensive in the nation. Third quarter fund-raising reports gives Seals $498,872 cash on hand; Footlik, making his first run for office, has a $414,018 warchest. The winner faces Kirk, who has stockpiled $1.5 million and has no primary opponent.
"The issue here," carol marin says, "is whether the battle between Seals and Footlik will splinter Jewish voters, sap each campaign of cash and strength in the primary, and give Kirk the advantage he needs to capture a fifth term."
We know someone else from the 10th who doesn't like to speak to audiences that are unfriendly, but I'm pretty sure we're having this election to replace that guy.
Footlik has got to be ready to throw in the towel at this point if he thinks he can get away with pulling a "Mark Kirk" in the heart of his district.
This is the type of leadership we can expect from Jay? If I don't like what you might have to say, I'm not showing up at all? That's pathetic, and even if there was no shot in hell, you show up and take your drubbing like a man.
What kind of message does that send to the few Footlik supporters who have gone out on a limb to support him?
There is really no way to spin this from Jay's angle, either he's getting ready to exit the race, or he's heading for a major ass kicking.
a couple of years ago, when howard dean came to chicago to thank those who helped him run for president, he asked why i thought he lost. "you didn't ask anyone for their vote," i told him. fundamental mistake. less than six months later, when he decided to run for dnc chair, he called me: "i'm going to ask everyone for their vote!" what a difference a change in tactics makes.
so color me surprised when jay footlik, who says he's running for the democratic nomination in the 10th congressional district, failed to show up to the new trier democratic organization's endorsement session on sunday. just didn't show. now you'd think that he'd know the importance of showing up to slating sessions, given the fact that the only incumbents the cook county democratic party didn't endorse were those who didn't show up! but jay is from d.c., and he apparently didn't know the history of endorsement sessions in the chicago area. (it really is different in d.c.)
but that wasn't the most incredulous part. several people spoke up on jay's behalf, and their message was broadly the same: dan seals is a nice guy (ok, he is), but jay's more electable.
Take it with a grain of salt as it is campaign polling, but holy crap:
(The Politico) Marketing executive Dan Seals holds a commanding lead over former Clinton administration aide Jay Footlik by 52 points for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), according to a poll released by his campaign.
The poll found that 58 percent of likely primary voters would vote for Seals, while only 6 percent preferred Footlik.
[...]
The poll, conducted by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group surveyed 404 likely Democratic primary voters between November 5-7.
Partisan, bias, or whatever, 52 points is still well out of any margin of error by a wee bit.
roll call was in the area this weekend, interviewing all the candidates in the 10th and 14th congressional districts. these two primary battles are getting national attention.
it may not have helped jay footlik, however, for this article to appear while the national reporter was in town:
October 21, 2007
BY CAROL MARIN Sun-Times Columnist
We already know Illinois is going to be pivotal in the battle for Congress. Republican Rep. J. Dennis Hastert of Plano is resigning; Democrat Melissa Bean of Barrington still has a target on her back.
But will Democrats sabotage their own chances in at least one of six defining Illinois races, five of which are now controlled by Republicans?
I'm talking about the 10th Congressional District and the seat held by four-term incumbent Rep. Mark Kirk of Kenilworth, a moderate Republican.
the meeting -- reflecting the intense desire of voters in the tenth to talk about the war -- was packed. but it seems that not all the fireworks were inside. while about 300 people were inside, about the same number could not enter the hall because of fire department restrictions. congressional candidate jay footlik was outside, accompanied by his campaign manager.
volunteers and supporters of dan seals surrounded footlik and gave him a rousing reception. footlik is trying to move back to illinois having been gone for almost two decades. dan seals, meanwhile, has generated significant grass and netroots support, so it was no surprise that they would surround and shout down footlik.
Remember last week when Bill-O went after the Democratic presidential candidates for daring go attend the Yearly Kos convention? Essentially his argument was that Daily Kos was a hate site filled with hate speech that was vile. Vile just like the Nazis! And of course he based this well reasoned bias and ideological free argument on 4 or so comments of a few regular bloggers out of the 500,000 plus bloggers who read and comment on that site daily.
It worked so will for Bill-O that all the Democratic candidates attended anyway, Bill lost an advertiser in the backlash, and he wound up having to show his fair and balanced side by citing the same type of comments from Red State - a conservative blog.
Just got this one passed to me. It's an email from a Kirk supporter basically accusing anyone who does not support Kirk's pro-war position as anti-Semitic. The writer then goes off on bloggers on Kos and picks out some of the more extreme examples trying to pass them off as the norm. As my readers know, I am Jewish, not at all anti-Semitic, not at all self-hating and pretty fed up with people who presume to tell me and others what we are supposed to think with the threat of being marked anti-Semitic for any disagreement. I am also fed up with the new spin on anti-Semitism that leaves us vulnerable to real anti-Semitism now unchecked in the new church merged with state country Bush wants for us, and supported by Mark Kirk who never says anything about its dangers.
The email goes further to insinuate that Jay Footlik and Dan Seals should not speak to anyone left of center and certainly not anyone who would use that pesky old free speech, a mere holdover from those Jefferson/Madison days.
the financial disclosure reports are up for IL-10 on the democratic side, and they show that dan seals enjoys a lot of local support from the 10th CD and the state of illinois. for jay footlik, well, his report shows that he has a lot of outside illinois support -- but not so much in the district. seals raised almost five times more than footlik in illinois, from almost four times as many contributors in the state.
"Didn't take long for 10th Congressional District Democrat Jay Footlik to alter his position on the Iraq war." so begins today's animal farm column.
Last month, as he got into the race, I asked Footlik a couple questions about his position on the Iraq war, sure to be a key issue in the primary against Democrat Dan Seals. Here's what I wrote:
On Iraq, Footlik said he doesn't necessarily support a "hard and fast deadline" for withdrawal, but thinks Congress has to force President Bush to come up with "something close to a deadline."
To say Footlik was elusive on the war topic is a fair characterization.
footlik might have known that 10th cd democrats were fairly active in opposing the war -- if he had lived here. but living inside the beltway has its negatives, as well as its pluses.
Over at thecapitolfaxblog.com, Rich Miller has the latest on some local races.
Dan Seals raised $264,000 in the quarter just ended, while Jay Footlik raised $270,000. Kirk raised a borderline astounding $616,000.
Looks like its gonna be a tough one for Dan this time around. I'm hoping we can help him get BlueMajority status, and knock out this Footlik character.
this afternoon, the new trier dems held an open house (or, rather, backyard barbeque) for glencoe democrats. jay footlik, prospective candidate for the democratic nomination for congress in il-10, showed up with his wife. glencoe democrats were not only surprised by this, many were offended.
"he doesn't live in glencoe," one guest fumed. well, he doesn't even live in illinois (yet). but that's a different story.
what is really interesting about this is that, as jay "oiled his way around the crowd," as another glencoe democrat put it, he asked guests what he could do for them. like he's connected to the democratic machine or something.
still another guest replied to his question: "sure, you can drop out of the race."
bored now already knew this and mentioned it here, but Jay Footlik has jumped into the Democratic primary for the right to challenge Mark Kirk in 2008. Dan Seals is widely expected to run again but hasn't formally announced. (He told The Hill "I’d be surprised if you don’t see me on the ballot.") Ellen of the 10th wrote up Footlik's speech to the Moraine Township Democrats last summer when he was working for John Kerry. The context of that talk was different than where we are now, but, well, go read Ellen's take and draw your own conclusions. I'll reserve judgement until Jay gets his issues page up.
The Hill discusses the primary race in terms of money and fundraising. They highlight Footlik's relationship with Kerry, who purportedly told him "First and foremost, focus on fundraising," though stopped short of offering an endorsement or writing a check. Regarding Seals they focus on last year's run and it's relative success despite national party support.
Seals said DCCC officials were impressed with his performance last cycle, and although they didn’t pony up cash in 2006, he said he thinks they will rush to his aid when he gets in this time.
“I would expect national support this time,” Seals said. “Did we earn their respect and attention with our last performance? Absolutely.”
Seals added that he has been in touch with DCCC Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), who has had “positive” things to say about another run.
“But when you look at what we did, how can you not?” he said.
Seals said he filed to run again immediately after the last election and has maintained his relationships with his volunteers and fundraisers. He finished the first quarter this year with about $37,000 cash on hand.
