Illinois Congressional Races

But Weller Was So Excited About It

Daily Reminder–new material below.

Funny, I seem to remember Weller being excited about using his upcoming marriage for political gain before he got slapped around for marrying the right hand aid of a murderous dictator–who is also the murderous dictator’s daughter.

But no more according the Pantagraph:

A few months back, he also was pretty eager to announce his pending marriage to a Guatemalan congresswoman. He rounded up family and friends for an announcement in his hometown of Morris and even sent out a press release, complete with a biography of his fiancee.

Last week, we had the rare opportunity to chat with the incumbent Republican, who is facing a challenge Nov. 2 from Democrat Tari Renner of Bloomington.

At the end of the interview, which focused on Weller’s work as a congressman, we asked Weller if he and Zury Rios Sosa had set a date for their wedding.

“I wouldn’t tell you if we did,” Weller responded. “You guys in the news media would make a circus out of it and ruin it for us.”

As it turns out, The Pantagraph news chopper is out of service this year and we won’t be buzzing the treetops of some swanky private resort hoping to get exclusive footage of the ceremony, including the part where the bride’s father, a former dictator of Guatemala, hands her off at the altar.

Weller was then asked if he and his fiancee had picked a location for the wedding.

“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Weller said. “Maybe it will be on a beach in Bali. My marriage is a deeply personal matter.”

Guess we’ll just wait for a press release to tell us when the deed is done.

Mr. Weller is petty too:

Here’s an excerpt from one instance:

“I was shocked and could not believe the vicious personal attacks that the college professor made on my fiancee,” Weller said. “The professor owes my fiancee a personal apology.”

We interrupted and asked Weller why he only refers to Renner as “the college professor.”

“That’s what he does,” Weller responded. “I’m a congressman. That’s his job title.”

It could be worse. Weller could be calling Renner something worse … like “politician.”

And for the daily reminder:

Top Renner aides are hoping for a repeat of 2000, when Democrat Mike Kelleher raked in nearly $200,000 from the national party in the closing days of his campaign against Tim Johnson in Illinois’ 15th Congressional District.

Insiders say the added money is a possibility because their internal polls show Weller has not put much distance between himself and his challenger despite spending large sums on advertising.

“He should be blowing us out of the water,” one Renner staffer remarked.

For Renner to have a realistic chance, Democrats in the 11th District are going to have to come out in droves.

And so, help the DCCC have enough money to do exactly that. In the other race, I’m behind Liberal Oasis, but you all have been amazing. Liberal Oasis and ArchPundit have raised over $5,000. Let’s improve that and reward and encourage the DCCC to get in this race and continue in others.

ArchPundit sits at $2250, let’s give Liberal Oasis a run for the money.

You can also visit Tari’s campaign by clicking on the ad at the right.

And more on DeLay in the Extended
Read More

Sun-Times: No Endorsement in the 3rd

I, for one, am baffled that every paper hasn’t done this, but the Sun-Times no endorsed in the 3rd CD race between Dan Lipinski and Ryan Chlada. Given the maneuver by the elder Lipinski to avoid any real challenge to his son, this seems correct. There is another choice, write-in candidate Krista Grimm. I have no illusions she’ll win, but it is a way to force others to pay attention to anger about how this was orchestrated.

Renner Racks up The Peoria Journal Star Endorsement

Ouch.

Woodford County GOP Chairman Jim Booth says he hasn’t met the man. Neither have we.

You’d think he’d get a starring role in the (valid) critiques about downstate Dems being Chicago based after this:

His whereabouts are a legitimate campaign issue for a couple of reasons. Since his engagement to a Guatemalan lawmaker, a former dictator’s daughter, Weller has sold his home in the district and bought a condominium near downtown Chicago. He also owns property in Nicaragua. His rental of an apartment above a garage in Morris meets the legal definition of residency but not the moral commitment.

Rios Montt’s daughter isn’t just a family member, but a trusted political lieutenant. Her support of her father would be one thing if it was some sort of denial about what he is about, but she is an active member of the party and key ally to her father. She is a part of the political machine that has tried to return a murderous dictator to power. That is highly relevant.

Tari has some momentum. Make sure if you are in the 11th to help with the ground game.

Cegelis Complaint

Christine Cegelis’ campaign will be lodging a complaint with the State Board of Elections later this morning. The Complaint is available here.

Dan Johnson-Weinberger is the election lawyer in this case.

They are reasonably asking for state review and further investigation. The complaint doesn’t allege any conspiracy theory, though individual action by employees of the Board is not excluded from consideration.

Numbers that Make Me Salivate

General Election Match up
———–Support/——–High/ Low Opinion
Weller______45%_______ 40/16
Renner_____25 ________12/6
Undec._____30

Generic Ballot
Dem___36%
GOP___32

General Election Match Up-Informed on Outsourcing

Renner__40%
Weller___39

The outsourcing measure is when informed about views on outsourcing people then change their votes.

A Bannon Communications poll; conducted 9/26-27 for Tari Renner; surveyed 353 likely voters; margin of error +/- 5.3% (meaning a Democratic Poll)

So the basic results here are virtually the same as the poll done by Weller (update). Don’t know why I missed this–one huge difference is Weller is under 50% reelect which is the magic number.

The interesting thing, and why Weller is avoiding debates, is that when informed of positions, Renner jumps in support.

Does this mean this race is close? No–but it means there is a hell of a lot of upside potential to this race in a closely divided CD where the Gore – Bush split in 2000 was 48 – 50.

Is it too late? Possibly. I can’t say that and dismiss the Zinga potential in the 17th so I’ll try and stay consistent, but hopeful. Renner needs to get his name out there, the positions out there and fast–and you can help by donating or helping with their ground game. If this isn’t at least close, the Democrats will be missing a huge opportunity.

Brutal Crane Column

From Brian Slupski of the Northwest Herald

My wife wants me to run for Congress.

She loves scuba diving, which usually involves a trip to a sunny island locale. And apparently, plenty of congressional work gets done in places such as Costa Rica, Antigua, Barbados, and Boca Raton, Fla.

At least that’s the case with 8th District Congressman Phil Crane.

It gets worse (perhaps better). The Stakeholder takes it on too.