Illinois Congressional Races

Evans Retiring

ArchPundit March 28, 2006 No Comments

I’m glad to hear it. Lane has served admirably, but it was clear this winter that he was going to have a hard time keeping up as a Congressman. It’s far better to leave on your own terms. I hope this will also give him time to enjoy himself and his family.

It is odd timing given the primary just passed, but obviously this is a far different situation than Lipinski–in this case it appears that Evans is dropping out after actually hoping to run again. Democrats will be able to appoint a candidate in his place.

There will be a scramble given the weird nature of the District and the areas it covers all along the Western border of Illinois and how it takes in Decatur and Springfield.

The District leans Democratic at about 53% so it leans Democratic, but it is competitive.

Via Rich

Frankly, It’s Happened in Much Worse Situations

ArchPundit March 28, 2006 16 Comments

Cegelis refuses to endores Duckworth. If that’s Christine’s take, it’s Christines take (and YDD, I do owe you an apology–I was mistaken)

As I’ve expressed many times, there have been much worse primaries. This isn’t typical, but it’s certainly not uncommon. At this point, anyone who wants to fight over it can…others should find a campaign they can work for whether it’s Duckworth or another campaign.

Stephen Yellin on Melissa Bean

ArchPundit March 27, 2006 3 Comments

He makes a very simple point. Melissa Bean is a lot better than David McSweeney. I like Bean. I don’t like each of her votes, but she is a moderate in a relatively conservative district. Fortunately, the District isn’t as right wing as David McSweeney.

That said, this guy appears intent on delivering David McSweeney to Congress.

Scheurer is also pro-life. There are many pro-life Democrats who I respect, but arguing he’s the progressive choice for those on the left is kind of tough.

Word is Scheurer is also spreading the meme around that if he can beat Bean this year, he will run in 2008 and win. Not likely.

The War on Contraception

ArchPundit March 27, 2006 4 Comments

The right wing assault on family planning is very real. Missouri just banned state clinics from providing contraception, but look closer and we see opposition to the morning after pill that is widespread in conservative circles. On a personal level, many may disagree with it, and that is fine, but attempting to stop the approval of Plan B. From the Culture Campaign candidate questionnaire.

Q: 4. Allowing the Food and Drug Administration to approve non-prescription sale of the “morning-after” abortion drugs (e.g. Plan B): Support, Oppose, or Undecided?

A: Oppose

The far right wing is trying to sell Plan B as RU-486 which it is not. Steve Chapman covered this in a recent column.

But it turns out the reputation is groundless. The best scientific evidence we have indicates that the morning-after pill serves to block fertilization, while having no effect on implantation. That makes it contraception, not abortion.
As a longtime pro-lifer, I think anti-abortion groups had solid grounds to oppose the morning-after pill when its function was unclear–as I did. But given what we now know, it’s a grave mistake to keep opposing it. In fact, there are grounds for celebration: A drug once believed to produce abortion is found to prevent abortion.

….

This week, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, released a report that gave a withering critique of the agency’s handling of the issue. It concluded that high-level FDA officials decided against Plan B before the scientific review had been done, as part of an approach the GAO described with such adjectives as “unusual,” “novel” and “unprecedented”–a polite, bureaucratic way of saying “outrageous.”

The Republican War on Science continues. Nevermind the science, attempt to block safe drugs from being approved.

Don’t Know Much about McSweeney

ArchPundit March 27, 2006 3 Comments

Find out some here (wmv file)

He’s a creationist. Sigh, no wonder Roeser is such a good pal.

Stem Cellapalooza

ArchPundit March 27, 2006 3 Comments

Given some in Missouri want to ban embryonic stem cell research, I’ve already been in the middle of this debate for some time—The Trib picks up on one key issue Democrats will be hitting upon this year.

First Salvo: Roskam’s Choice (WMV file)

500 Personal stories about the potential of stem cell research

One of the more interesting questions with embryonic stem cell research is that many opposed to such research really hate to answer questions about in-vitro fertilization. Ultimately, it has the same effect of allowing excess zygotes to be disposed of if not used. If you are against stem cell research of this kind, it’s only natural to be against IVF. One of many questions you should ask opponents.

The Dirtbag Known As TrueRealDemocratAuthentic

ArchPundit March 26, 2006 7 Comments

Making fun of a veteran injured in combat for the way she walks is not the best way to advocate for your candidate.

TrueRealDemocratAuthentic just posted this to comments:

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, Tammy Duckwalk:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/bunny_tapdancer.html

He/She did it anonymously and demonstrated his/her stupidty by not even renewing their SBC connection to get a different IP.

UPDATE: Let’s be careful in comments–individuals who say such things aren’t representative of Christine or the vast, vast majority of her supporters.

Last One Standing

ArchPundit March 26, 2006 No Comments

3 Endorsed Candidates in Illinois for the Eagle Forum, one left–Salvi and Oberweis lost, Roskam is the remaining endorsed candidate for now.

This One Must Have Been a Hoot

ArchPundit March 26, 2006 1 Comment

Schlafly and Roskam Event.

Roskam is an incredibly effective guy at appearing moderate, but at the same time he’s unapologetically a movement conservative. I’d probably compare him closest to Todd Akin in Congress now in being a guy who votes exactly the way he says he will–very conservative.

The contrasts between Duckworth and Roskam could not be clearer and it will be fascinating to see hos this plays out.

Cluster&%$

ArchPundit March 23, 2006 32 Comments

Let me make clear what I think happened in the 6th if the below post on the reduction in Democratic voters doesn’t make it clear.

Three candidates–all people I think are nice people ran in three different ways. One spent $700,000. One tried to bring in new Democrats. One essentially organized for 3 years.

The grand total of that effort? 4,000 fewer votes in the primary than 2 years ago. Not only did they not make the pie larger, the divided it up between themselves and subtracted 4,000 people.

That takes some talent on all their parts.

Everyone complaining about the other camps needs to drop it now and figure out how they screwed up themselves and there are plenty of things to point towards that were problematic. I can start going through them one after another for days on end, and trust me, no campaign would be happy by the time I’m done.

With SEIU and other unions backing her, Tammy couldn’t get out any more voters than in the past even with all the resources she could need. If you can’t use the money to get people to the polls, there isn’t going to be much of a contest in November.

Christine lost votes in the primary over last time–if the great selling point is the grass roots support she had, it would appear the grass roots is shrinking.

Lindy, well, being third I won’t be too hard here, but Lindy wanted to bring in many, many more new voters. That didn’t happen either. ”

This was a horribly low turnout election in a District that is becoming competitive for Democrats and yet no one in the Democratic Party from the organization to the grass roots appears to know where the hell the Democratic voters are in Illinois 6.

UPDATE: What is noticeable is if you take the DuPage results for CD 6, the total number of Democratic ballots taken in 2002 and 2006 are pretty close–with 2006 actually having 135 fewer Democratic ballots taken. Meaning the increase in DuPage between 2002 and 2006 in number of votes in the Congressional Election was due to fewer people skipping the race. We don’t have the final Cook numbers, but it looks very likely that a similar situation took place.

Sooooo…despite all of this effort, fewer Democrats in the 6th District portion of DuPage actually showed up to vote this time.