Ditka!
ArchPundit
From comments tonight, the Draft Ditka guys will be on Sportscenter (ahhh..the sharp elbows of aspiring politicos fighting to be the guy ;))
And Hannity and Scarborough have contacted them?
Illinois Senate
Ditka!
Ummm..how this became serious, I’m not sure, but we know who to thank….
In addition to Rauschenberger, the second-place finisher in the Republican primary, millionaire dairy owner James Oberweis, submitted his name as a potential candidate. Andrea Grubb Barthwell, deputy drug czar in the Bush administration, and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka have also been mentioned as a possible Ryan replacement.
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., smiled when asked his reaction to Rauschenberger’s announcement Thursday and said: “Ditka, Ditka.” Hastert wouldn’t comment on the possibility of a Ditka candidacy. A message left for Ditka at his restaurant wasn’t immediately returned.
Dillard said Thursday that the Republican State Central Committee members hadn’t discussed the possibility of a Ditka campaign, but he said it wouldn’t be far-fetched.
“Coach Ditka is an icon in Illinois and would send a very good message to working class and regular people throughout Illinois that if they are his fans and fans of his values, the Republican Party is where they belong,” Dillard said. “Coach Ditka would be able to attract the Reagan Democrats.”
I refuse to ridicule this as ridiculous because at this point nothing is unimaginable.
From what I’m hearing there is scuttlebutt out there and there are calls being made about Ditka between here and DC.
The danger of such a deal is twofold. The first is that Ditka spontaneously combusts with the press. The second is that he runs a Jesse Ventura like campaign actually incorporating new voters. The problem is that the reason Ventura won was because no one thought he would–Obama’s campaign wouldn’t make that mistake.
Draft Ditka is updating the developments if I miss any…
Ditka, Ditka
Mark Kirk is showing himself to the suburbanite that he is by confusing SNL skits. Hasn’t this guy ever been down to the Billy Goat? Sheeesh….
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., smiled when asked his reaction to Rauschenberger’s announcement Thursday and said: “Ditka, Ditka.”
Cattle Call Open Thread
Ah hell, let’s do another one today. Will be posted this afternoon.
Rauschenberger Out
Steve Rauschenberger looked at Obama’s warchest, the dissarray in the GOP and a thankless task of running from way behind and apparently decided he isn’t that good of soldier. Hastert was backing him as were Syverson and Dillard making his selection if he decided to go–almost a certainty.
In the announcement he took a shot at the Blagorgeous increasing speculation that he might make the 2006 Gubernatorial race pitting himself against fellow fab 5 Legislator and social conservative darling Patrick O’Malley.
Despite all this, Dillard is still pushing for Rauschenberger.
Illinois Republican Senate Nomination Cattle Call 7-8
1. Rauschenberger. Probably the only guy that doesn’t have anyone who hates him (despite concerns over the vetting process). Hastert is friendly, only Kjellander has a problem and Steve didn’t even try that hard to take him down. But with his demand to have a minimum amount of party money, the party may end up begging him to run instead of him asking to run. I believe at this point he is the only guy who can save the down ballot disaster completely.
2. Bob Schillerstrom. Smart, probably liked by Chamber types because of his switch on O’Hare and has decent name recognition as DuPage County Board Chair. Will be a decent draw in the burbs and will not be too much of a handicap in the downballot. Probably will demand some party money too. If he can get it, good platform to start the Governor’s race.
3. Tom McCracken. RTA Chair (Former or current–have to check) Fluent on transportation issues and widely known amongst insiders. Berkowitz says conservatives like him generally. Probably not stupid enough to run without party money either.
4. Uberveis. Guy only has a shot because he finished second in the primary and wants the suicide mission. President doesn’t like him and the Party understands how toxic he could be. Drug reimportation doesn’t help.
5. Jack Ryan. As I said, can it really get any weirder?
6. Jonathan Wright. Actually made a decent name for himself in the primary and might be willing to take on a suicide mission to raise name recognition and issues. A building for the future pick.
7. General Borling. Decent guy and certainly a heoric past. But that isn’t going to work with his former campaign manager being at the center of the Ryan scandal. Being pro-choice was knock one–this is knock two. Too bad in the sense that I think he’d have run a good campaign.
8. Dr. Andrea Grubb Barthwell. If nothing else, throw a hail mary. Still not sure how they are going to talk to her, but those things tend to work out.
9. Norm Hill. NORM!
10. Ditka. No seriously, why not at this point? Rauschenberger applied to be Bears Coach and Ditka to the Senate. How about it Jerry? A trade? (Credit to OneMan to reminding me of the Rauschenberger application to the Bears)
11. Duerson. Ah, hell, so he is a Democrat. And do we really need to guess who sent in his resume?
12. Lauzen. Don’t think he’ll do it, but imagine how stale my CPA jokes will be.
13. Jerry Krause. Jordan wil really donate to Obama then.
14. Jerry Reinsdorf. New meaning to stadium seating in the Senate gallery
15. Jordan. Just to keep Krause out, but Democrats buy shoes too.
16. Kathuria. Resume promises not to finish dead last again.
17. Peter Fitzgerald. Over Hastert’s dead body. Rumors of extra cholesterol being shipped to Hastert by some Party members
in a brief bit of hearsay, I hear the Committeefolks aren’t being lobbied hard, but the press is ever present. My guess is that this benefits Rauschenberger assuming he wants it since he has three natural votes already.
Really, Which is More Weird
The Moonie Times reports on the Draft, errr..don’t replace, err…hell I don’t know what to call it effort to get Jack! to stay on the ballot.
Dead Derious on Ditka
Rick Santorum vs. Da Coach in the Senate. I like it. I like it a lot. The horrors of little Richie having to witness Da Coach grab his crotch.
UPDATE: Draft Ditka was on the Score and is going to make NBC and ABC local news tonight.
I feel a groundswell!
Only Because It Couldn’t Get More Bizarre
Jack Ryan is acting an awful like a candidate.
Let’s run it down:
1) Sun-Times interview
I don’t feel I’m through with politics
2) 20/20
In a bizarre bit he said: . “I was told by almost everyone I spoke to this is a two-day story, this is not a crusher for a campaign,” he said. “The biggest reaction I got was, ‘Is that all there is?’ ”
Ummm…well, that was only your end of the files, not your ex-wife’s story in the files. Remember that little bit you left out with Governor Edgar?
Ten-second sound bites and six-word headlines do not reflect the love and commitment Jack has shown to our family and especially his son. Jack’s commitment to being a great parent is beyond reproach. Anyone who casts doubts on his devotion to his son is simply out of touch.
The thing is, if this is true and he really thought the file should be sealed on legal grounds, why didn’t he:
a) appeal (politically disastrous)
b) not figure this out in March when the accusations were released by McCulloch and figure out that there was a file out there
But the interesting section is this:
Senator Fitzgerald demonstrated integrity and respect for Jack, our democracy and the political process during this difficult period. He and individuals like him represent what is good and hopeful in our democracy.
Almost like a clarion call to defy the press and the party leaders.
4) Good Morning America appearance
5) Scarborough Country were he insists the ruling was out of the ordinary and unprecedented–it wasn’t.
RYAN: Well, I think it?s worthwhile looking into someone if they?ve broken a serious promise to their spouse or to someone they owe a duty to. That I think is a character issue for running for the U.S. Senate or for the presidency but the things that they?re alleging about me don?t rise to that level. So, I think it?s fair to go to those issues if they are a serious break of a promise but otherwise no.
What about to a Party Leader or a former Governor or the public or the…..
6) Hannity radio and Hannity and the useful idiot tv
7) It’s all being breathlessly reported by the Illinois Leader which has a publisher who happens to still be on the Jack! payroll.
After all of this there is no doubt this guy is going to run for something, but is he crazy enough to continue this run? One has to wonder if he isn’t trying a Perot like draft movement.
IS HE FRIGGEN NUTS? If he really thinks he can run and even do well after the fiasco he has created he is crazy. He’ll have to stay out of sight of the media more than Peter did in 1998 and Barack is no Carol Moseley Braun. The media will be ruthless or, if he is lucky, simply ignore him. He’ll have to self-fund, freeing up Barack to raise more from individuals and if he goes high enough, receive party money–though he won’t really need it.
The press will be merciless and if he thinks it was bad before, wait until he had a full frontal assault from the GOP and I don’t just mean Kjellander and Topinka. I mean the Dillards, the Syversons, the Cross’, the Watson’s who are all in danger of losing Lege seats. It’ll be a Congressional disaster that probably brings down Crane and Weller and may even make others vulnerable with low turnout.
He won’t be running against Barack Obama, he’ll be running against the Illinois GOP, and they’ll win.
And to add in a bit of bizarreness, there is still, in all likelihood, an unredacted file out there with at least 6 paragraphs that will be nasty. No Democrat will ever touch it–it will be a murder suicide by the GOP.
Why He Should Be The Nominee: He’s No Fool
The Republicans may have a bigger problem than they think, Steve Rauschenberger, in my estimation the strongest guy to save the downballot races, isn’t stupid and he wants a firm money committment before agreeing to be the nominee (not that it was offered yet).
We’ve been through this dance before when one of many reasons Jim Edgar passed on the race last summer was supposedly a lack of party funds being committed to the race as a guarantee.