This race is becoming increasingly hot so there will be a lot of these through the primary.
Stuart Rothenberg ranks the race a top race for control of Congress in Roll Call
llinois’ 6th. Democrats have a shot at the seat of retiring Rep. Henry Hyde (R), but they must endure a primary and overcome a district in which Bush drew 53 percent in each of his presidential races. Unsuccessful ’04 nominee Christine Cegelis starts as the Democratic frontrunner, but many party insiders and the state AFL-CIO are backing Illinois Army National Guard Maj. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran. The GOP nominee will be state Sen. Peter Roskam, a politically savvy and personable former Capitol Hill aide. Roskam starts out as the favorite, but it could be competitive.
Duckworth gets frontpaged in USA Today. While news junkies scoff at USA Today, marginal voters read it. It’s a huge free media opportunity.
Sweet’s article on the 13th about Duckworth’s “Meet and Greet” at a law firm.
IFT backs Duckworth giving her AFL-CIO, SEIU, and AFSCME. If IEA endorses, that’ll give Duckworth essentially all of the union support both monetarily and for volunteers.
Scott and Cegelis on Public Affairs
The IEA usually does not recommend candidates in primaries. The only time I can remember the IEA doing that was when Lisa Madigan ran the first time. That was obviously as a favor to Mike Madigan who then turned around and opposed several bills that IEA wanted and he left in the limbo called the Rules Committee even though the companion bills passed in the Senate.
So much for favors.