July 2004

Illinois Republican Senate Nomination Cattle Call 7-8

ArchPundit July 8, 2004 14 Comments

1. Rauschenberger. Probably the only guy that doesn’t have anyone who hates him (despite concerns over the vetting process). Hastert is friendly, only Kjellander has a problem and Steve didn’t even try that hard to take him down. But with his demand to have a minimum amount of party money, the party may end up begging him to run instead of him asking to run. I believe at this point he is the only guy who can save the down ballot disaster completely.

2. Bob Schillerstrom. Smart, probably liked by Chamber types because of his switch on O’Hare and has decent name recognition as DuPage County Board Chair. Will be a decent draw in the burbs and will not be too much of a handicap in the downballot. Probably will demand some party money too. If he can get it, good platform to start the Governor’s race.

3. Tom McCracken. RTA Chair (Former or current–have to check) Fluent on transportation issues and widely known amongst insiders. Berkowitz says conservatives like him generally. Probably not stupid enough to run without party money either.

4. Uberveis. Guy only has a shot because he finished second in the primary and wants the suicide mission. President doesn’t like him and the Party understands how toxic he could be. Drug reimportation doesn’t help.

5. Jack Ryan. As I said, can it really get any weirder?

6. Jonathan Wright. Actually made a decent name for himself in the primary and might be willing to take on a suicide mission to raise name recognition and issues. A building for the future pick.

7. General Borling. Decent guy and certainly a heoric past. But that isn’t going to work with his former campaign manager being at the center of the Ryan scandal. Being pro-choice was knock one–this is knock two. Too bad in the sense that I think he’d have run a good campaign.

8. Dr. Andrea Grubb Barthwell. If nothing else, throw a hail mary. Still not sure how they are going to talk to her, but those things tend to work out.

9. Norm Hill. NORM!

10. Ditka. No seriously, why not at this point? Rauschenberger applied to be Bears Coach and Ditka to the Senate. How about it Jerry? A trade? (Credit to OneMan to reminding me of the Rauschenberger application to the Bears)

11. Duerson. Ah, hell, so he is a Democrat. And do we really need to guess who sent in his resume?

12. Lauzen. Don’t think he’ll do it, but imagine how stale my CPA jokes will be.

13. Jerry Krause. Jordan wil really donate to Obama then.

14. Jerry Reinsdorf. New meaning to stadium seating in the Senate gallery

15. Jordan. Just to keep Krause out, but Democrats buy shoes too.

16. Kathuria. Resume promises not to finish dead last again.

17. Peter Fitzgerald. Over Hastert’s dead body. Rumors of extra cholesterol being shipped to Hastert by some Party members

in a brief bit of hearsay, I hear the Committeefolks aren’t being lobbied hard, but the press is ever present. My guess is that this benefits Rauschenberger assuming he wants it since he has three natural votes already.

Really, Which is More Weird

ArchPundit July 8, 2004 0 Comment

The Moonie Times reports on the Draft, errr..don’t replace, err…hell I don’t know what to call it effort to get Jack! to stay on the ballot.

Dead Derious on Ditka

ArchPundit July 8, 2004 1 Comment

Kristin McQueary tackles the less weird story of the day by discussing the possibility of drafting Ditka for the Senate race.

Rick Santorum vs. Da Coach in the Senate. I like it. I like it a lot. The horrors of little Richie having to witness Da Coach grab his crotch.

UPDATE: Draft Ditka was on the Score and is going to make NBC and ABC local news tonight.

I feel a groundswell!

Only Because It Couldn’t Get More Bizarre

ArchPundit July 8, 2004 3 Comments

Jack Ryan is acting an awful like a candidate.

Let’s run it down:
1) Sun-Times interview

I don’t feel I’m through with politics

2) 20/20

In a bizarre bit he said: . “I was told by almost everyone I spoke to this is a two-day story, this is not a crusher for a campaign,” he said. “The biggest reaction I got was, ‘Is that all there is?’ ”

Ummm…well, that was only your end of the files, not your ex-wife’s story in the files. Remember that little bit you left out with Governor Edgar?

3) The Family Statement

Ten-second sound bites and six-word headlines do not reflect the love and commitment Jack has shown to our family and especially his son. Jack’s commitment to being a great parent is beyond reproach. Anyone who casts doubts on his devotion to his son is simply out of touch.

The thing is, if this is true and he really thought the file should be sealed on legal grounds, why didn’t he:
a) appeal (politically disastrous)
b) not figure this out in March when the accusations were released by McCulloch and figure out that there was a file out there

But the interesting section is this:

Senator Fitzgerald demonstrated integrity and respect for Jack, our democracy and the political process during this difficult period. He and individuals like him represent what is good and hopeful in our democracy.

Almost like a clarion call to defy the press and the party leaders.

4) Good Morning America appearance

5) Scarborough Country were he insists the ruling was out of the ordinary and unprecedented–it wasn’t.

RYAN: Well, I think it?s worthwhile looking into someone if they?ve broken a serious promise to their spouse or to someone they owe a duty to. That I think is a character issue for running for the U.S. Senate or for the presidency but the things that they?re alleging about me don?t rise to that level. So, I think it?s fair to go to those issues if they are a serious break of a promise but otherwise no.

What about to a Party Leader or a former Governor or the public or the…..

6) Hannity radio and Hannity and the useful idiot tv

7) It’s all being breathlessly reported by the Illinois Leader which has a publisher who happens to still be on the Jack! payroll.

After all of this there is no doubt this guy is going to run for something, but is he crazy enough to continue this run? One has to wonder if he isn’t trying a Perot like draft movement.

IS HE FRIGGEN NUTS? If he really thinks he can run and even do well after the fiasco he has created he is crazy. He’ll have to stay out of sight of the media more than Peter did in 1998 and Barack is no Carol Moseley Braun. The media will be ruthless or, if he is lucky, simply ignore him. He’ll have to self-fund, freeing up Barack to raise more from individuals and if he goes high enough, receive party money–though he won’t really need it.

The press will be merciless and if he thinks it was bad before, wait until he had a full frontal assault from the GOP and I don’t just mean Kjellander and Topinka. I mean the Dillards, the Syversons, the Cross’, the Watson’s who are all in danger of losing Lege seats. It’ll be a Congressional disaster that probably brings down Crane and Weller and may even make others vulnerable with low turnout.

He won’t be running against Barack Obama, he’ll be running against the Illinois GOP, and they’ll win.

And to add in a bit of bizarreness, there is still, in all likelihood, an unredacted file out there with at least 6 paragraphs that will be nasty. No Democrat will ever touch it–it will be a murder suicide by the GOP.