Call It A Comeback
Donate time or labor–and to make it easy, the Bean banner to the left takes you right to her site.
Part of the issue with Congressional campaigns is that they are small enough to not be able to afford broadcast TV–though cable is starting to play a role–but there is a huge number of voters to contact. Give what you can, but also remember volunteering for canvassing and working the polls is just as essential in a Congressional race.
And the Seat Warmer is ingenius!
It’s been over on the Leader Looper Boards for a while, Fran Eaton–the Managing Editor of the Illinois Leader on leave for grassroot organizing in the Keyes campaign left the campaign.
Fran Eaton, Director of grass roots activities for Alan Keyes informed people today that she had quit the campaign. Eaton has been a long time confidante’ of Dan Proft, self proclaimed Illinois’ poltical Guhru and Keyes campaign chief. Proft also claims personal credit for recruiting Keyes for the Illinois Senate race. Both are also on the Illinois Leader management team. Why did Eaton quit?
St. Patrick
Proft confirmed:
P.S. Fran has left the campaign for her own reasons…her service and work were greatly appreciated and there is no ill will. I know you were hoping for strife among us Leader folks who you despise so much and yet whose product you frequent so often. But, alas, your dreams will have to be postponed for yet another day.
And in an e-mail sent back when one person tried to contact her, this was received:
FYI – Fran Eaton is no longer the campaign’s coalitions director. This was Fran’s personal decision after careful consideration, and we appreciate the work she has done for the campaign and wish her well. We will let you know when we find a replacement Coalitions Director. In the meantime, please contact Megan Griffiths with any questions (xxxxxxxxxx@keyes2004.com or 312.xxx.xxx).
So some turnover in the smooth Keyes operation already.
Most interesting because she wrote this on August 16th
Their example has personally inspired me to respond to a call for duty in the current fierce political war raging in the State of Illinois. It is a war that calls us as Illinois conservatives to leave our comfort zones and fearlessly enter the fray.
For me, the call means stepping away for the next few months from my role as managing editor with IllinoisLeader.com to assist with organizing the conservative troops behind the IL GOP?s new, dynamic standard bearer – Ambassador Alan Keyes.
This is a time of war for Illinois? future, and now is the time for all good men (and women and youngsters) to come to the aid of their country.
The impossible “mission” I have chosen to accept is to coordinate the Keyes campaign’s faith-based outreach, calling on voters who darken church doors frequently to engage as never before in Illinois’ political scene.
The time is now, and the need is urgent, and in my assessment, may never present itself in a similar way again in my lifetime.
Do you realize that in the black community overall right now, more babies are being aborted than are being born?
Well, no. African-American abortion rates are high and I think we can all agree we would like to see lower abortion rates amongst African-Americans, but let’s stick to the facts, in 2000 amongst African-Americans-non Hispanic
607,000 Live Births
488,000 Abortions
170,000 Fetal Losses
And since 1990, that has never been true.
My guess is the fetal loss level is low because it is self-reported–between 25 – 30 % of pregnancies result in miscarriage so my guess is that the rate reported is low–perhaps exacerbated in with a higher A-A poverty rate which would likely increase the number of miscarriages. The other factor is that some abortions would have resulted in miscarriages as well.
All that said, that is a tragic number. The idea of abortion being safe, legal and rare is that each one is the result of tragic circumstances.
But he didn’t think ozone pollution was a big deal nor did he think twice about exempting companies from Clean Water Act regs.
So, when he’s in trouble the money flows:
House Appropriations Committee staff are under instructions to add money to spending bills for Mr. Crane’s district. A stream of administration officials — from the departments of Transportation, Education and Commerce — have flown out in the past month to help boost the congressman’s credentials.
But why isn’t he worrying about this previously? And why is everyone else so worried about her all of a sudden?
Even better, the Crane office just started sending out e-mail messages to constituents—which the office had never used before the campaign.
Many readers know I’m critical of the current assault weapons ban because it isn’t very effective at identifying assault weapons from other rifles, but in principle I don’t think such a ban is a bad idea and the bill is set to expire tonight. Phil Crane has a different view:
Berkowitz: The concept of the federal government requiring background checks. You oppose that?
Crane: Oh yeah, I don’t think background checks are required….
Berkowitz: So, if felons want to get a gun, that’s OK? Ex-felons, I mean.
Crane: Well, if a felon goes to the local store and buys it… so long as he is a law abiding citizen.
Berkowitz: Assault weapons. You don’t support the ban on assault weapons.
Crane: No.
Berkowitz: Why would… private individuals need to have an assault weapon?
Crane: Whatever melts their butter in terms of going out to the rifle range and target practice and so forth.
Two of those positions put him to the right of the National Rifle Association and in bed with the bizarre Gun Owners of America headed by Larry Pratt
GOA gave Phil an A. Only Shimkus is close with a B. The others in the Illinois GOP delegation received:
Hyde C-
Biggert C-
Weller C-
Kirk F
Johnson B
LaHood B-
Hastert C-
Maybe someone should ask him about automatic weapons.
It takes a lot of guts to call someone a carpetbagger when you drew them out of the District.
The Crane folks are complaining because Bean lives 1400 feet out of the District. Of course, this wasn’t the most obnoxious remap since Mike Kelleher said of being redistricted out of the 15th:
“If I go to the end of my driveway, I can through a baseball into the 15th district.”
You’d have to have a pretty good arm to do that from Bean’s house, but the point is the same. And this is the Democrats fault for going along with the remap to protect all of the incumbents, but ultimately complaining about Bean’s residence is a bit silly(and for the record–I love that Alan Keyes is running from Maryland or not).
The point of the House of Representatives was to be close to the people—if anyone wants to compare Melissa to Crane, I think we’ll find a populace closer to her ideologically and geographically most of the time.
Some folks in Wauconda are wondering where it is given the level of vinyl chloride in their water.
In 1982 the Environmental Protection Agency identified the Wauconda Sand and Gravel landfill as a toxic waste dump that should be cleaned as soon as funds become available. But 22 years later, there has been no clean-up and the poison has spread. Residents blame the lack of action on long-time Congressman Phil Crane for not applying pressure on the E.P.A.
That’s some pull he’s got there. Hell, he had just run for President in 1980 and hadn’t even checked out then.
The New York Times profiled the race on the 3rd:
“I had no money, and lots of people didn’t even know I was running,” she said in an interview. “This time it’s a whole different ball game. People know who I am and what I’m doing.” In recent months, Ms. Bean has nearly kept pace with Mr. Crane’s fund-raising pace and has picked up endorsements from well-heeled national groups like Emily’s List, which supports female candidates.
Several of Mr. Crane’s longtime supporters, however, scoff at suggestions that he is vulnerable. “Where they’re getting the idea that this race is close is beyond me,” State Senator Wendell E. Jones said.
Some people at Friday’s street fair said they thought Ms. Bean had a chance to win.
“She has the strength to go against him,” said Mark Thieme, a 52-year-old postal worker. “There are more young people in the district these days. For a lot of them, Crane is a pretty distant figure.”
Ultimately, this District is Republican, but not nearly as it was when Crane started out–slowly, like the rest of the collar counties, the area is more and more competitive–running a fiscally conservative Democrat who is socially moderate and strong on the environment is the perfect match for this district. While ideally the 10th should be competitive, Mark Kirk is a moderate who is hard to beat. Crane is way right and out of step with that District.
A few feet away, though, Bob Geary, 45, a hotel security director who was sharing a hot dog with his 7-year-old son, said he would stick with Mr. Crane.
“Being in the House of Representatives as long as he has brings money to this state,” Mr. Geary said. “That’s exactly the reason I’m voting for him.”
Although Mr. Crane has made a career of denouncing deficit spending, he has amazed some people, both here and in Washington, by supporting President Bush’s large deficits. That has led Ms. Bean to criticize him as “a deficit hawk who turned into a dove,” but he makes no apologies.
“We’ve had special circumstances,” Mr. Crane said. “The war on terror is a high priority. We have to take care of that first; then we’ll get back into balance.”
Of course, Crane isn’t really bringing much in so the idea is a bit bizarre. Crane’s arguments for a huge deficit are exactly the problem if one is worried about long term deficits–one has to make choices now about spending and if one chooses to spend for war, one has to tax for it. He’s unwilling to pay for it.
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