Call It A Comeback
An actual Democrat gets in the race–and Kos covers it.
DCCC isn’t the worry–Madigan is. He’s the guy who has the ground troops to hold it and Pera or anyone else will have to figure out how to mobilize voters–it’s a good District for a Dem–Kerry carried it with 59 percent of the vote.
I like John Sullivan a lot, but he didn’t raise enough money to be competitive. Hopefully Pera can get some early cash.
Seriously, is anyone getting in that race actually taking on John Laesch? Or is he something of collateral damage from someone, anyone running a real campaign in the 14th?
a lack of preparation, organization, and a candidate who seemed committed to doing everything *but* what the candidate is supposed to do all contributed to laesch’s loss.
That’s probably too nice actually, but a fairly good summation of the problem.
A very interesting candidate has jumped in Illinois 14–a particle physicist.
Okay, I want some feedback on what people think of the three candidates from this cycle:
Duckworth, Pavich and Seals.
The aim is to get a variety of opinions about the three candidates and their campaigns. From there, there will more open threads about whether to encourage the above candidates, discourage them, and lay out potential candidates for each race if discouraging the last candidate is a good idea.
My point is to evaluate the three of them as candidates in their own right and from that discuss whether they should run again.
I don’t have strong opinions on Duckworth and Pavich at this point, but I’ve already said, I want Seals to run again. In fact, I hope he is already running again. If Kirk loses his mind and shoots for Senate against Durbin in a Blue State in a Presidential year with the next two years looking rocky for Republicans, Seals should win that race. If not, Kirk has a great shot at it anyway. In fact, that might push Kirk up since he might as well shoot big if he’s a top tier target. I’m not discouraging a primary–I generally think they are good things, but it would take an awful lot for me to not back Seals. He’s that good.
People read so take this seriously.
Hastert has been known to show up at one of the better Sushi restaurants in DC so him wanting to be Ambassador to Japan seems very possible. He likes his food–and no I’m not making fun of that–I do too.
Get ready for a special election in 14.
When you are done calling the NRCC concerning harassing robo-calls be sure to give the Free Enterprise Fund a call. They seem to have thought it wise to include Tammy Duckworth’s home number on a campaign commercial and encouraged folks to call it.
General Information:
Phone: (202)-661-3333
Todd Schorle
Phone:(202)-824-9607
Lynn Bradshaw
Phone: (202)-824-9618
They are bankrolled by Bob Perry of Swiftboat fame and the same group that did the Brokeback Democrats commercials. Great folks.
Getting the phone calls to call the NRCC and explain to them what a pain in the ass the calls are:
(202) 479-7000
To make it easy for our press corps–the press enquiries go to 716-208-1870. I have a feeling it’s going to be awfully busy.
Seriously, hand out the numbers to those getting the calls. That’s to whom one should complain.
He’s such a nice moderate boy. Not.
Then, in August, Schrayer, who was recently named chairman of the Tel Aviv University American Council, became aware that Caryn Garber, a Kirk staffer, had e-mailed Sam Witkin, president of the council, asking him to contact Itamar Rabinovich, the university’s president, to request that he call Schrayer “and tell him that his actions can have a very bad effect on the University.”
Your new Chicago TAU ‘chief’ … is working overtime to defeat Mark Kirk. The community is not pleased with his out front actions,” Garber wrote. The e-mail continued: “We understand that Schrayer hates Bush … that has NOTHING to do with Mark Steven Kirk. Revenge is a dish best served cold. I know that you and Itamar would not want TAU to be sullied by (Schrayer’s) out of control actions. .. believe me, HE is the talk of the Federation leadership and NOT the kind of talk you’d like.”
=========
A story in the Chicago Sun-Times reported the e-mail and included a statement by Kirk, who said that Garber’s letter “does not reflect my view. When I heard about it, I was upset.” He told the Sun-Times that he reprimanded Garber and told her she would be fired if it happened again.
That response was not good enough for Schrayer, who said he wrote Kirk originally in August, as soon as he found out about the e-mail. Kirk replied and asked for a copy of the letter, which Schrayer sent him, he said.
“Since then I have written him five e- mails, which he has ignored, asking him what he was doing” about Garber, Schrayer said. “Now I found out he said if she did it again, he would fire her. I just don’t understand why if somebody committed a crime like that, why they would wait until the next time to fire her.
“I think it’s terrible-a sham. We should be encouraging people to vote for whoever is their best candidate. We shouldn’t be trying to intimidate people as to how they vote,” he said.
When the thugishness goes to the offices of the supposed voices of reason, it’s time for a change.
Had enough?
I’ve seen this done in Democratic primaries, but nothing like the coordination of it by the National Republican Congressional Committee
Rich has the local variant up at Capitol Fax.
Those not familiar with the history, there is still an investigation going on in New Hampshire about phone jamming which this tactic seems to have grown out of.
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