While I delayed writing "Part II" because of work, family flu and the holidays - it hasn't been easy to write anyway. The truth of the matter is that on policy I have differences in different areas with all four Democratic candidates in the 14th District, Bill Foster included. But politics often involves compromises - the type where you win some, and lose some, and rarely the type where you get met "half-way." I had my disagreements with Howard Dean while actively supporting him for president in 2003/4. Very early this cycle I was one of two authors of the former blog "Feingold for Illinois," but I have substantial disagreements with some of Russ Feingold's positions too. The test of support cannot be that you are 100% in agreement with the candidate you support - there will be too few, if any, you can support. The issue then is about thresholds - do you agree with the candidate on the issues enough to support them?
jotham stein got the endorsement of harry katz, dean of cornell university's school of industrial and labor relations, which i failed to mentioned before.
(Cross-posted at WurfWhile.com - I'll try to do the policy angle tomorrow - this seemed more timely right now.)
Democrat Bill Foster's campaign has raised more money from donors (not including candidate self-funding) than any other Democrat or Republican in the 14th Congressional race. Bill totally dominated the 3rd quarter for small dollar donations (under $200) collecting more than all other Democratic candidates combined and almost as much as all Democratic and Republican candidates combined. In the 3rd quarter Bill had 680 donors - a sizable number and more than most (and possibly all) other candidates. Eighty percent of Bill Foster's donors in the 3rd quarter were new contributors to any political candidate ever - and his contributions have a relatively modest average of just over $300 per donor.
With statistics like these you would think Democratic activists would widely celebrate Bill Foster's campaign as a grassroots campaign. While I think they'll come around, if area blogs like Prairie State Blue are any indication, it hasn't happened yet. Why?
Money is a big issue in the 14th Congressional race - but too many people are confusing the issue. Let's get some basics out of the way:
I believe in public financing of elections - but I don't believe in unilateral disarmament.
Leading Republican Jim Oberweis has said he will spend as much as $2.5 million of his own money for the primary and another $2.5 million for the general election - and experience suggests he could do that or more.
Leading Republican Chris Lauzen has already loaned his campaign $325,000 - and had $525,000 cash on hand in his third quarter FEC report.
Now, let me tell you about a Democratic candidate who is running in the 14th congressional district.
each race has a lens through which a political campaign can be viewed. in the il-03 race, the lens is the emergent scandal surrounding dan lipinski and whether any challenger can coalesce their social and political networks before the bombardment of advertising begins. in the il-14 race, that lens is the concurrent special election.
But Illinois law also sets periods for collecting signatures, for filing candidacies, and for challenging candidacies. It's my understanding that when you add up these discrete periods, you end up with a time frame of 50-57 days as a minimum requirement before ANY election -- including a primary election -- could be held.
Serra, a Geneva resident and communications firm employee, identified himself as the only Democratic candidate supporting a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq. He suggested other changes to the military such as screening more troops for post-traumatic stress disorder and abolishing the military's policy banning openly gay service members, which Serra said has lost the U.S. "an awful lot of good soldiers."
The Kendall County Democrats sponsored the forum, the first one in which all four of the Democratic congressional candidates have attended.
One of the GOP election judges and I drove the sealed box o' ballots to the DeKalb County Legislative Center at 7:30 p.m. An official there picked up the box and asked, "Are the ballots in here?" "Yes," we replied, "but there are only four."
