From the Inbox
CBS2 has some interesting speculation regarding a secret conference call to oust Jack!, but that Jack! also may be setting into strategy of going on TV to put all this behind him:
06-24 CBS 2 WBBM 430
Derek Blakely: Another political bomb shell for Jack Ryan, and CBS 2 has it. Some of the state’s biggest republican power brokers will have a secret conference call to set the wheels in motion to try to oust Ryan from the senate race. Good afternoon, I’m Derek Blakely.
Mary Ann Childers: It’s a political party side swipe, if you will, to a candidate deep in damage control mode. Mike Rlannery has been following the story from the beginning and Mike, top republicans are concerned, it seems, about more than the senate seat.
Mike Flannery: They absolutely are, Mary Ann. Republican party leaders are concerned about saving candidates farther down the ballot for seas in the general assembly and for local office. The fact is, though, that Jack Ryan, I have learned next a phone conversation might be preparing himself to double down here. He may be getting ready and next week, we might be seeing TV commercials hit the air where he tries to clear the air and put this all behind him. Republican party leaders, though, are worried that Jack Ryan on the ballot might prompt too many local republicans to stay home in November, a worry that grows says Ryan?s national notoriety grows.
Jack Ryan’s campaign for U.S. Senate has suddenly become a favorite topic of late-night tv comedians.
Kraig Kilborne: The allegations of public love making in six error error clubs, insiders are worried Jack Ryan may not be kinky enough for the U.S. Senate.
Mike Flannery: Reportedly still trying to figure out how to put the sex club episode behind him, the candidate spent the day in meetings away from public view. Sources told us Ryan may soon hit the air with a wave of paid TV commercials he believes could put his campaign back on track. But CBS 2 news learned he faces potential opposition from Illinois republican leaders planning a secret conference call for tomorrow morning, including former governor Jim Edgar, state party chair, Judy Baar Topinka, U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Cook County Republican Chair Gary Skoien, DuPage County Chairman Kirk Dillard and legislative leaders Tom Corss and Frank Watson. Longtime observers of local politics, though, are not sure they can persuade Ryan to quit.
Roosevelt University Prof Paul Green: They?re in a terrible situation. The party is a perfect political storm for a party that was already facing disaster.
Craig Kilborne: Ryan’s numbers have dropped sharply with everyone but a small and influential group called perverted trekies.
Mike Flannery: The sex club allegations, of course, came from former “star trek” TV actress Jeri Lynn Ryan. One political rule of thumb has always been that once the candidate becomes the butt of such jokes on TV, he or she is finished, should just toss it in. Bill and Hillary Clinton, though, defied that role coming back strongly. Sources close to Jack Ryan insist that he still believes he has a chance to do the same.