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LaHood Unhappy with Schock
He’s not saying it, but he’s saying it. Bernard Schoenburg covers it:
A few weeks ago, I had back-to-back telephone conversations with U.S. Rep. RAY LaHOOD, R-Peoria, and state Rep. Aaron Schock, another Peoria Republican who LaHood wants to be his successor in Congress.
Those conversations were odd because LaHood told me he had called Schock to recommend that Schock reimburse the city of Peoria for expenses surrounding a fundraising visit from President GEORGE W. BUSH. Schock, however, told me LaHood had told him not to pay. Schock said he later decided otherwise.
Last week, both appeared at a Statehouse news conference at which LaHood emphasized his support for Schock and demanded that Democratic candidate COLLEEN CALLAHAN pull a TV ad in part because it invokes LaHood’s name. I took the opportunity to ask which story about the Bush visit was right.
I didn’t exactly get a clear answer.
“I had a conversation with him,” LaHood said. “And we talked about it. I gave him some advice.”
What advice?
“I told you what advice,” LaHood said. “He has a different recollection of it.”
Scott Kennedy Breaks Down the Early Voting Numbers
Too hard to excerpt, so go take a look.
One thing we do know is that African-American voters are less likely voters on average and yet we are hearing of huge numbers of early African-American voters.
Daily Dolt: Del Ali of Research 2000
The Research 2000 poll has historically ranked Blagojevich’s favorability higher than most others. Pollster Del Ali speculated that may be in part because his poll asks respondents to choose among several categories of negative and positive approval, which may prompt more nuance in the answers.
Ali also questioned the lowest rankings of some other polls. “I find it hard to believe a Democrat in a Democratic state would be less popular than (President) George Bush,” he said.
Let me point out we have had multiple polls putting Blagojevich at 15 % or less and every one of them that also measured Bush’s approval on the same scales found it higher.
Who To Replace Obama?
Given I’m getting asked in comments and Brownsox ran a big piece on it, I’ll cover it again. As Rich said the other day, anyone who says they know what Blagojevich will do is kidding themselves.
The big three are almost certainly out in Giannoulias, Hynes, and LMadigan. One theory holds that Blagojevich will appoint one to reduce the potential primary opponents. However, for Blagojevich there is safety in numbers so appointing any one of them hurts him. He thinks he does best in a four way race in the next gubernatorial primary. Given how awful he is doing and his legal jeopardy is only likely to worsen, that’s delusional. That said, it seems to be what he thinks. Beyond that he hates Mike Madigan enough to never do anything to even remotely improve his family’s standing.
Jesse White has done the Shermanesqe statement saying he won’t take the office even if it’s offered and by most accounts he loves being Secretary of State. Pat Quinn isn’t really an option to Blagojevich and if you are Pat Quinn, you probably figure your chance to be Governor for at least a little while is pretty high given the current circumstances. Even if for only a year or so.
Next up, is my pet theory–Blair Hull. Hull was a big donor to Blagojevich and while Blagojevich might not have endorsed, his clear preference was for Hull. I have no reason or no source to support the idea, but Blagojevich loves loyalty and so I think it’s a possibility.
The loyalty theory also gives a slight chance to State Rep. Jay Hoffman who has been loyal to a fault with the Governor. That said, my guess is Hoffman wants Secretary of State if any statewide office and knows his more socially conservative views woudl be touch in a primary in two years. My other guess is Hoffman cares about Illinois issues more than anything and being a US Senator would get him away from that.
Emil Jones? As entertaining as it would be to have Emil Jones be a US Senator, I don’t see it. He could be a fair caretaker, but he has never suggested any interest in being a US Senator and frankly I take his interest in retiring to be serious. But think of the YouTube clips….
Jesse Jackson Jr. has again indicated his interest. As someone else said, “And I’d like to fuck Angie Dickinson too.” The Governor doesn’t like Jackson and frankly Jackson has pissed off quite a few people this cycle between his attacks on Halvorson and his meddling in Will Burns’ race (probably pissing off Emil on top of everything in both cases).
Blagojevich could appoint himself, but he’s a fighter even if delusional and he wants to prove himself by winning another term as Governor. State laws are also a lot looser in terms using your account for legal fees and that may become a big help if the feds don’t freeze campaign account.
One person who I long dismissed simply because I didn’t see the upside to Blagojevich is Jan Schakowsky. However, she has been fundraising for him and represents a liberal base in the primary that Blagojevich would covet. The liberal base tends to distrust machine politicians and so such group of progressives would be a natural alliance against LMadigan and Hynes. She’d be insane to endorse him, but if you can’t take his appointment and screw him, you aren’t fit to be a US Senator.
Many discount her as not a good general election candidate, but I’m not certain. She’s certainly not Dick Durbin and her margins would be smaller, but she has good labor union ties and Illinois is a safe blue state. All that said, I don’t think Blagojevich cares much about that so I’m not sure it’s a relevant consideration to him. Where she would be vulnerable is if Madigan decides he wants to take her out and creates an alliance with Republicans. Tales of hating Schakowsky are legion amongst Madigan staffers. Schakowsky wears that as a badge of honor. Pissing off MMadigan might well be a bonus for Blagojevich.
The sort of consensus choice is Tammy Duckworth. Part of Blagojevich’s problem is that he wants to attract a coalition for reelection and so he needs some African-American and Latino support. The problem is that the African-American bench is thin in the short run (fantastic in the long run). Jones and White are out. Jackson isn’t really an option. Who is next? Ricky Hendon? I kill myself. The only choice that would make sense in terms of someone who could hold the seat is Kwame Raoul, but he doesn’t benefit Blagojevich because of the divisions over Will Burns betwene Kwame and Jackson. Kwame, for those not familiar with him, ran against Emil and Obama endorsed candidate Will Burns to replace Obama in the State Senate and won. He then backed Burns for a House seat while Jackson ran someone else. Burns ended up winning, but it was heated between Jackson allies and Burns allies–Obama ended up sitting out at Jackson’s pressuring of him.
There’s a similar problem in the Latino community with no natural candidate because of divisions within the community. Someone like Manny Flores would be a great choice, but no single choice in the Latino community is a consensus pick with the possible exception of Gutierrez who is a horrible fundraiser and thus would make a horrible candidate. Plus, he has ties to Rezko. Sort of kills his chances off.
So how does the relate back to Tammy Duckworth? She isn’t black, white, or Latino and she is a woman. On top of that she is woman veteran who is about the only person getting good reviews for this administration. She’s smart and tough and has gotten much better since the 2006 race, but most importantly, she’s the only person that makes Blagojevich look better.
The downside for Duckworth is she becomes Blagojevich’s pick and has to defend that in 2010. If he’s on the ballot, that’s nearly impossible, but he’s likely toast in the primary or in the Patrick Fitzgerald sweepstakes by then. If he’s gone by then, as he almost certainly will be, Duckworth is enough of person unto herself, she can probably pull it off with Durbin backing her and the President of the United States coming in to help if necessary. The ultimate problem is the first question upon being appointed would be do you endorse Rod Blagojevich for reelection.
As I said above, anyone who thinks they know what Rod Blagojevich will do is lying or as delusional as he is so the above may be the most pointless thing ever written. The only sure thing is that Mr. 10% makes John McCain look like a planning genius.
Pantagraph Endorses Obama
Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
The Stupid Cup Runneth Over
Frank Burns of the Illinois Blogosphere swings and misses:
Seals Campaigns with Blagojevich Treasurer Despite Ties to Mob and Illegal Gun Ring
Frank tries to call Giannoulias as a part of Blagojevich’s administration. For those not familiar with Illinois politics-the State Treasurer is an independently elected office. Unless we are now calling Judy Barr Topinka as part of the first Blagojevich Adminstration. I wouldn’t put it past Frank, but I tend to concort with a bit smarter class of readers.
Then, it’s also important to note, Blagojevich doesn’t like Alexi and Alexi doesn’t like Rod. That’s beyond dispute so I have no idea how he qualifies as Blagojevich’s Treasurer anymore than he qualifies as Frank Burn’s Treasurer.
Of course, the loan to the Yildiz didn’t appear to involve Alexi and as with most of the crap Madigan dumped on Alexi, it isn’t clear how loaning money for a legal business is shocking especially when Alexi wasn’t doing the lending at the time. Then again Frank doesn’t appear to understand the difference between home lending and commercial lending so perhaps it hurts to much to think about it.
A lawsuit filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court demands that Broadway Bank — run by the Giannoulias family — not hold Loren Billings responsible for the loan and interest.
Billings, who for years has run the Museum of Holography on the Near West Side, was duped by three Ukrainian businesspeople who convinced her to take out the loan in order to purchase shares in their own holography company, the lawsuit says.
Billings’ attorney says Giannoulias ignored her mental state and the histories of those with her and awarded her the loan in 2002.
Giannoulias campaign spokesman Scott Burnham called those allegations “groundless.”
“There was no indication whatsoever that she was mentally impaired at the time,” he said. “There was a concern about her involvement with these individuals.”
Because of that concern, Burnham said, the bank would not allow Maria Chychula, Igor Anatsko and Vitaliy Baka to be listed as co-borrowers, as they desired.
Additionally, Giannoulias wrote a letter to Billings, expressing his concern to her about their history, recommending she hire an attorney to help review the documents.
However, attorney Peter King, representing Billings’ estate, which filed the suit against Broadway, called that “a self-serving letter written simply to cover his own behind.”
Most importantly, Alexi has done a great job as Treasurer. Only someone completely ignorant about Illinois politics would try and make him into a Blagojevich ally. One could, however, point out his closest political ally is Barack Obama and we know that Mark Kirk thinks the Obama agenda is a horrible. So why not argue on those merits?
Today’s Tosser: Do You Even Have to Ask?
Now highlighting crackpot conspiracy theories about Obama’s birth certificate!
You see, Factcheck.org is funded by the Annenberg Foundation so it’s all a part of the conspiracy.
Very old timers in Chicago might get a chuckle out of the fact that FactCheck.org is funded by guess who? That’s right, Obama’s old pals at the Annenberg Foundation, the same outfit that gave Obama and Bill Ayers a lot of bucks to pass around to their pals such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright for “education reform” research. It gets better. The media always tells you Walter Annenberg was a great publisher, philanthropist, and a Nixon ambassador to London. Yup, he was all those things too, but his fortune first came from his Daddy, Mo Annenberg, when both father and son were mobsters in Chicago in the 20s and 30s.
Apparently this particular dunce cannot read either:
CLICK HERE to see the Annenberg funded FactCheck.org article defending Obama updated on Aug. 26. The article shows many pictures of what they say is the original certificate complete with laser printing unknown in 1961. CLICK HERE to read more about Mo and Walter Annenberg in a story from the Philadlphia City Paper in 2002.
So click to the article and what do you read:
You can click on the photos to get full-size versions, which haven’t been edited in any way, except that some have been rotated 90 degrees for viewing purposes.
The certificate has all the elements the State Department requires for proving citizenship to obtain a U.S. passport: “your full name, the full name of your parent(s), date and place of birth, sex, date the birth record was filed, and the seal or other certification of the official custodian of such records.” The names, date and place of birth, and filing date are all evident on the scanned version, and you can see the seal above.
The document is a “certification of birth,” also known as a short-form birth certificate. The long form is drawn up by the hospital and includes additional information such as birth weight and parents’ hometowns. The short form is printed by the state and draws from a database with fewer details. The Hawaii Department of Health’s birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate, but their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department. We tried to ask the Hawaii DOH why they only offer the short form, among other questions, but they have not given a response.
One gets the sense that the folks at Illinois Review are ripe for giving very nice Nigerians bank account information.