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Fit for Halloween Rich Miller

ArchPundit October 31, 2002 1 Comment

Fit for Halloween

Rich Miller at the Capitol Fax sums up the campaign:

STATEWIDE GOOFS Did you see that Jim Ryan believes the AFL-CIO intended to put George Ryan’s photo on a mailer instead of his in order to continue tying him in voters’ minds with the governor? The state fed says the mailer was done by the national operation and somebody just made a mistake. But JRyan insists there was a vast conspiracy. Maybe now we can see how he could have prosecuted Rolando Cruz twice without any physical evidence

What does Andrew Sullivan have

ArchPundit October 31, 2002 No Comments

What does Andrew Sullivan have to say about this

The Illinois Leader criticizes Topinka for being accepting of gays and lesbians. Or are they just playing to the crowd like Jeb?

Booing at Funerals Okay, being

ArchPundit October 30, 2002 No Comments

Booing at Funerals

Okay, being joyous is fine, booing people who knew the man personally is not. Trent Lott may be a doofus, but he was paying respects to a man who he worked with and booing him is inappropriate. They may have been political opponents, but one clear thing about Wellstone was his ability to disagree without being disagreeable. We should honor that legacy as well as his progressive nature.

On a slightly different note, Robin Carnahan’s “Don’t Let the Fire Go Out” was a much more effective way to spur people to action while keeping an event respectful.

Given my father has asked that there be no funeral and only a rip roaring party in his home town, the rest seems generally appropriate to me.

No Republican Fly Around The

ArchPundit October 30, 2002 No Comments

No Republican Fly Around

The Capitol Fax reported yesterday (already off site) that J-Ry won’t be doing the traditional fly around with the Illinois Circular Firing Squad Team slate. Apparently, he is afraid being seen with Birkettt will raise questions about the Cruz case.

I’m not kidding. The way to avoid that is to answer the questions.

For those out of Illinois, the fly around has a long tradition that I can remember from as far back as ’76. Of course, in ’76 I was being paraded around on the shoulders of Big Jim so my memory of the time is a bit hazy.

The larger problem is the fly-around is a good buzz producing event and tradition. Not doing it will further suppress Republican turnout.

Neal’s Poll Analysis Sun-Times Columnist

ArchPundit October 30, 2002 No Comments

Neal’s Poll Analysis

Sun-Times Columnist Steve Neal points out that the polls are consistently supporting a large Blagojevich lead. Far from the inane analysis yesterday insisting that J-Ry has momentum, he is stuck at around 40% or below. Worse, he is barely breaking 50 in the collar counties and below 50 downstate. Some of that will come home at the end, but 6 days out he should be around 60 in both areas. Worse, he is off-message and whining about tactics instead of what the hell he is going to do. His commercials breaking in St. Louis are finally doing what he should have done 3 months ago–establish J-Ry as his own person. By this strategy he might just close the gap sometime in 2004.

Coming Next: Indictment Season for

ArchPundit October 30, 2002 No Comments

Coming Next: Indictment Season for the ICFST

Bad, bad, bad news for the Governor and the ICFST. The finger in the dyke was just pulled. This guy probably has dirt gone through a C-14 half life.

Daniels stepping down to focus on his soon to be indictment and this may bring G-Ry down after leaving office. I suppose the R’s will have to stop complaining about Dan Walker then.

The worst thing for

ArchPundit October 29, 2002 No Comments

The worst thing for Illinois Death Penalty Reform is

Mass Clemency unfortunately.

Qatar coup attempted? Via CounterSpin

ArchPundit October 29, 2002 No Comments

Qatar coup attempted?

Via CounterSpin Central there was a coup attempt in Qatar? I’m behind in reading the paper, but DAMN why isn’t this on the nightly news?

Having a good time at

ArchPundit October 29, 2002 No Comments

Having a good time at funerals?

Yes, you remember people and laugh about the good times. What a crock. One of the stories that horrifies some twits in Missouri is that Kit Bond popped a beer after burying his mother. I always found this objection to Kit Bond silly because a common theme around my family is remembering the dead and the damn funny things they did. I think everyone objecting needs to get a life–and enjoy it with memories of those past.

J-Ry, “OH SHIT” Emil Jones

ArchPundit October 29, 2002 No Comments

J-Ry, “OH SHIT”

Emil Jones and Da Speaker just put $1 Million into the Democratic GOTV effort in Illinois. If you read down the article you’ll see J-Ry pulling in more money recently. This is probably due to Hastert’s intervention recently. For those unfamiliar with Illinois politics, Hastert is from the Fox Valley and so is Rauschenberger–one of the mainstream, but conservative, GOPers. Hastert is trying to shore up the party to keep the Senate and hopefully avoid a painful, painful fight for the soul of the ICFST after a major loss.

An interesting note on this is Crain’s Chicago endorsements where they layed down the challenge to the GOP from here on out. The pushed for a GOP to back business and not social conservatives. The fight between the social conservatives and the business community should start somewhere around poll closing in Illinois on the 5th. I can see it now, Crain’s vs. The Illinois Leader in drag out knock down….