Ray LaHood is great. Who else could could turn the guns inward just as Jack! was starting to get out from behind recent problems? The Hill covers LaHood’s comments on the Ryan strategery to date and they aren’t pretty.
?He?s running kind of a bonehead campaign right now,? LaHood said of Ryan. ?This idea of having one of his staffers trail around Obama and take video pictures of him at all of his events is about the stupidest thing I?ve ever seen in a high-profile campaign, and it?s been publicized all over Illinois, and when people in our party ask what?s going on I tell them it?s ridiculous.?
The fossil in the 8th District offers up this defense:
Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill.), who attended a fundraiser Friday for Ryan featuring Vice President Dick Cheney, said Ryan?s flagging campaign is the fault of the Illinois Republican Party, not Ryan.
?Our party has been in a state of disarray for many years, beginning with the scandal down in Springfield,? Crane said, referring to the corruption controversy surrounding former GOP Gov. George Ryan, who is no relation to Jack Ryan. Crane added that the scandal ?has caused a lot of people to be disenchanted. Jack Ryan is a dynamo out on the hustings.?