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?
in a race like this one, after the financial disclosure reports are put up, there's still things to watch for. first, there's the personal funds contributions reports like this one (PDF), this one (PDF), this one (PDF), this one (PDF) and this one (PDF) from bill foster. these are paired with reports of opposition to personal funds like this one and this one from john laesch along with this one, this one and this one from jotham stein. these are great fun for people running against a self-funder -- well, when the fec has a working majority. right now, there's not a thing that the fec can do. you can blame bush, if you want, for that, too.
then there's the 48 hour notice for contributions in excess of $1,000 or more for the 20 days before an election. these tell us who's still aggressively raising money -- which is more important, since the millionaire's amendment has been tripped in this election (allowing laesch and stein to raise considerably more than $2300 from each contributor). foster has raised at least $18,900 in new monies that required 48 hour notices. laesch has raised at least $5,500 in new monies that required 48 hour notices. and stein has raised at least $4,100 in new monies that required 48 hour notices.
the most important news at this point is that early voting has begun. for those who live in illinois' 14th congressional district, the ballot positions for the special primary election are:
Chris Lauzen brags in his campaign literature about all of the times he was the lone dissenting voice in a full Senate vote. Since he seems to have an almost unique talent for getting both political parties to bury their differences in order to oppose him, could Lauzen be the man we need to send to Washington in order to bring bi-partisanship back into the House?
the two primaries in illinois' 14th congressional district are fast approaching. the biggest piece of news in this race is that the endorsement session for the chicago tribune is available online:
but given the importance of this particular race -- voters will not only be choosing their nominees for the general election in november, but also their nominees for the special election in march to fill the term of retiring dennis hastert -- there's plenty of other news.
UPDATE: thanks to kpfarrer, jotham stein's mailer is below the fold.
this would be no surprise to those who are following this race closely. the story repeats the belief that foster's organizational and financial advantages make him the front runner in this race. this is true despite the fact that john laesch had run before and is a sentimental favorite, of sorts, to many on the blogs. shawn campbell's piece talked mainly about the lawsuit that the counties have filed, to cover themselves in the high expectations that the various elections offices may not meet all the mandates they are expected to meet in their conduct of elections (because the special election is only a month away from the special primary).
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.
Let's look at what the IL-14 campaigns are doing today.
Chris Lauzen is busy positioning himself as Denny Hastert's heir. The article at the link, from November 19, crows about Lauzen's being "unbossable" by GOP moderate Gov. Jim Edgar. The author cannot spell Jim Oberweis' name.
Jotham Stein's campaign is generating "time for a change" press releases while Jim Oberweis is calling on the governor to schedule the special primary for the same day as the regular primary to save the taxpayers some money. No word yet on how he's going to crimp the huge straw that stretches from the U.S. Treasury to Iraq. Meanwhile, DeKalb County passed its FY2008 budget on November 21. It will have to dig up another $50,000+ somewhere for that third election.John Laesch's supporters can be found at DKos.
I do not know election law or why it is that the ballot petitions originally intended for a regular primary cannot stand for a special primary on the same date with the same candidates.
I do know that any person I can dig up to sign new petitions will understand beyond any doubt whom it is they must thank for this duplication of effort and added expense.
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.
Let's look at what the IL-14 campaigns are doing today.
Chris Lauzen is busy positioning himself as Denny Hastert's heir. The article at the link, from November 19, crows about Lauzen's being "unbossable" by GOP moderate Gov. Jim Edgar. The author cannot spell Jim Oberweis' name.
Jotham Stein's campaign is generating "time for a change" press releases while Jim Oberweis is calling on the governor to schedule the special primary for the same day as the regular primary to save the taxpayers some money. No word yet on how he's going to crimp the huge straw that stretches from the U.S. Treasury to Iraq. Meanwhile, DeKalb County passed its FY2008 budget on November 21. It will have to dig up another $50,000+ somewhere for that third election.
I do not know election law or why it is that the ballot petitions originally intended for a regular primary cannot stand for a special primary on the same date with the same candidates.
I do know that any person I can dig up to sign new petitions will understand beyond any doubt whom it is they must thank for this duplication of effort and added expense.
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.
Tuesday's IL-14 Dem debate at NIU was hosted by the Northern Illinois College Democrats and the DeKalb County Democrats. Bill Foster, John Laesch and Jotham Stein participated.
DeKalb Dems are feeling their oats. They dominate the DeKalb County Board for the first time since ever and are excited about Bob Abboud's run in IL-16 as well as the candidate choices in IL-14. The debate last night was well attended, with County Dem Chair Eileen Dubin observing that the DeKalb County Democratic Party has grown so much, the old joke about its fitting into a Volkswagen no longer applies.
So now it's about time for the other IL-14 candidates to start grumbling about the millionaires in their midst, Jim Oberweis and Bill Foster, and the "buying" of a Congressional seat. After a thorough read of the latest Federal Election Commission financial filings, it is evident to me that the charge has to be based on more than just one's bank statement.
Consider these fundraising numbers for the 3rd quarter:
Burns: unitemized receipts of over $9,600; itemized receipts from about 80 unique donors.
Foster: unitemized receipts of over $38,700; itemized receipts from about 275 unique donors.
Laesch: unitemized receipts of $19,250; itemized receipts from about 90 unique donors.
Lauzen: unitemized receipts not quite $5,400; itemized receipts from about 100 unique donors.
Oberweis: unitemized receipts of $2,200; itemized receipts from about 50 unique donors.
Stein: unitemized receipts over $11,800; itemized receipts from about 85 unique donors.
Unitemized contributions are small contributions that don't meet the threshold for separate reporting ($200 or less per individual or group per calendar year). They are considered a measure of popular support. Large numbers of so-called "small donors" can be an advantage because the candidate can go back to them again and again up to a limit of $2300 per candidate, per election. As you can see, Foster is that guy; his campaign claims more than 650 total donors at an average of $315 per donation, including 204 donors who each gave $14. In contrast, campaigns with a few "large donors," such as Lauzen's, have already reached some donor limits.
Also this is probably a year when the "Millionaires' Amendment" kicks in. As soon as a House candidate spends $350,000 of his own money, mechanisms for leveling the playing field, such as raised contribution limits, can kick in for eligible opponents and would apply in the primary and in the general.
Disclosure: I'm knocking on doors for Bill Foster
[Cross-posted at CityBarbs.com where this is the 3rd article on 3rd quarter fundraising.]
I just received the following press release from Bill Foster's campaign for Congress in IL-14.
Treasurer Giannoulias has done an excellent job proving his credibility and effectiveness since being elected and has earned the respect of many Democrats statewide. His endorsement will undoubtedly provide a boost to Foster's campaign.
"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...
