Modern Vertebrate
ArchPundit
Endorses Obama and Rauschenberger
March 2004
Carl, Carl, Carl
The Officer is back in the news, claiming a Blair Hull surrogate offered him $150,000 to support Hull.
The number of ways this is ridiculous is hard to count. First, Officer doesn’t have that much influence. If you were going to bribe anyone in East Saint Louis is would be members of the Central Committee. The second is Carl doesn’t even name who did it. I mean, if he is serious, this is bribery. The third is that Carl doesn’t even appear to know what they were offering. I can believe someone offered funds to run a ground operation in the area, but not to just hand over to Carl Officer.
Carl has improved this go around and has done some smart things, but he still exhibits a tendency to the bizarre every once in a while.
For those unfamiliar with The Officer, take a look at this post
Direct Mail Takes Over
It is clear that direct mail is going to be the final battleground for this campaign. I’m not getting any so put in comments what you are getting or drop me a line at archpundit@yahoo.com.
Trib Editorial on Ryan
According to the portion of his divorce file that is public in Los Angeles Superior Court, his lawyers in 2000 sought to seal some 40 files, citing the interests of his son. The boy’s mother and Ryan’s ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, shared no such concerns at the time. Her lawyer argued that Jack Ryan sought to seal the files in order to protect “his potential political career.”
Initially, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider denied Ryan’s request to seal the documents; the judge noted that they might contain “inflammatory, inappropriate and embarrassing material.”
“The allegation is that these materials might be embarrassing to the parties, might be damaging to [Jack Ryan],” the judge wrote. “This is exactly the case where the court should not seal material. Particularly when issues of potential political involvement and cases involving substantial assets are involved, the court proceeding should be open so that the perception of the courts as equal to all the parties is preserved.”
A year later, after the conviction of a man who had harassed Jeri Ryan, the judge reversed course. He granted the request to seal the files. Attorneys for the Chicago Tribune went to court Monday seeking to open those files.
With the files off-limits, voters are left to guess whether there is any import to the information Jack Ryan sought to keep hidden.
The issue here is not divorce. As a regrettable but commonplace occurrence, it by no means tarnishes those who seek public office.
The issue is whether there is information that may be germane to Ryan’s fitness to represent the state in the Senate. If there is, he should share it with voters now, before the Tuesday primary. And if there is not, he can emphatically demonstrate to whispering opponents that they are all wet.
The allegations (and that is all they are at this point) aren’t just personal behavior. They are far more serious than what Hull was questioned on. I suppose if I just wanted a weak Republican candidate, I’d suggest he wait. But the voters in the Illinois Republican primary deserve to know. And they deserve to know if the charges are bullshit too. If that is the case, both General Borling, even with his heroic past, and Rod McCulloch deserve a one-way ticket out of Illinois politics.
WEEK-TV/Pantagraph Poll
Democrats
Obama 36
Hynes 21
Pappas 15
Hull 14
Chico 5
Undecided 8
Republicans
Jack! Doesn’t say+20 over Uberweis or perhaps Udderweis?
Uberweis
McKenna 11
Rauschenberger 10
Borling Single Digits
Wrigth Single Digits
Undecided 20
The survey polled 400 Democrats and 400 Republicans likely to vote on Tuesday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Key tings to pay attention to are the Democrats are settling on their preferences. While people can move, as they settle on their final choices towards the end, those choices tend not to change. Republicans are still volatile and with 20% undecided, just about anything could happen. Not that everything hasn’t already happened.
McCulloch’s Web Site
Illinois Politics is down, but the Internet Wayback Machine comes to the rescue
Here is the background page
It Just Gets Weirder
Read the Channel 5 story and see how long it takes you to decide what is the strangest thing about the whole episode so far.
What is interesting is Borling seems to be supporting McCulloch’s claims of what they saw.
So What About After Tuesday?
The Senate isn’t the only contest in Illinois
Melissa Bean is taking on Crane
Tim Bagwell is taking on Shimkus
Tari Renner is taking on Weller AKA the guy who moves his boundaries south so his parents could vote for him
David Gill is taking on one of the poorest excuses for a Congressman, Tim Johnson
These four races are all going to be tough and honestly, the odds aren’t in the favor of the Democrats, but they do have opportunities–especially Bean. So drop by and get familiar with them. I’ll be working on getting them some attention and letting you know how to help them out. And if you want to help any of Jerry Costello’s opponents–have at that too.
Tim Bagwell contacted me sometime ago so they know that many pay attention out there. Let’s make sure they have the resources they need to make a pick-up possible. Actually, I’ll set a goal right now, let’s send two of them to Washington. Bean is the first priority and one of the other three.
Illinois Democratic Senate Cattle Call 3-11
1. Obama, if only it was O’Bama this would probably be over.
2. Hynes. Working the organization.
3. Hull. Who knew he’d be the boring guy today. Really unfair day for the guy. A decent guy who made some strategic mistakes doesn’t need to get beaten down over every little thing he may have had happen in his life. And why the hell did he get top billing in the Trib?
4. Pappas. Getting her legs back and appealing, but just too late.
5. Chico. Hey, got a couple newspaper endorsements.
6. Skinner. Feeling lonely–didn’t realize the press abandons you as the race gets serious.
7. Washington. Apparently up on TV. Is this self-funded or was someone else stupid enough to buy into her delusions and give her cash?
Illinois Republican Senate Nomination Cattle Call 3-11
1. Ryan. I think. Umm… maybe. What the hell I don’t know what any of this garbage today means for Ryan. He was up in the last poll we’ll leave him here until something shakes out. This is officially too bizarre to figure out. I think it is safe to say we’ll be seeing his divorce records one way or another. Complaints about Jeri Ryan’s film with sex scenes that he financed surface again. I’d be really careful here, that might just get him votes.
I asked for this–really, I kept complaining how boring this race was.
2. Rauschenberger. Trying to raise cash and has a big mailing going out. Sitting out the fighting.
3. Uberweis, Uber Alles (Glenn Brown came up with this one). Mexicans=Bad. Canadian Drugs=Good. Don’t you just imagine some Canadian flying around in a helicopter talking about US Citizens taking good Canadian drugs? Not really because those Canadians are just too damn polite, but I like the image. Hitting Jack too with vague claims and such.
4. McKenna. He’s rich, he’ll be fine.
5. Wright. Making a good name for himself in the Judge Roy Moore fan club. That is a good thing currently in the Illinois Republican Party
6. Borling. On hold. Either the hero who sounded the alarm or the bastard who ran one of the worst campaign tactics ever while using a lackey to do it. Could he have done it simply out of spite at the whippersnapper?
7. Kathuria. Claimed on resume to have had public sex with Jeri Ryan.