ArchPundit heartily endorses Steve Rauschenberger for the Republican Senate Nomination in Illinois. Let’s not get confused here, Steve is far more conservative than I and I would not vote for him in the general election. But I would get closer to voting for him than I would anyone else in that field with only Borling coming even close to Steve.
The Republican field is full of people with little public experience who seem to think it would be neat to be a Senator so they are throwing money at the possibilty of being a big important person. Good for them. But this is one of the most unqualified and unserious field of candidates I have ever seen. Two have any legislative experience–or elected experience and one of them was an appointment. One other has given admiral service to his country in the US Air Force. The others? A gadfly dairy owner. A gadfly Doctor. An industrialist who has the sole distinction of giving money to the party over time. And a stock broker who teaches high school, but is clueless in regards to his own party and state. The last will wait for a more full treatment as Illinois is about to be subjected to him for 8 more months.
McKenna seems to think he is smarter than Peter Fitzgerald and thought it would be fun to run. Bully for him, but there is no compelling reason for him to be a Senator.
Kathuria is a relatively wealthy guy who decided a bunch of consultants could make him interesting, but took the first hit and sued.
Oberweis has attacked immigration like a pit bull, but has found an audience that doesn’t care. Beyond that he has offered no reason he should be Senator.
Wright is a serious guy, seriously right wing , and seriously over his head. But it did connect him to grassroots social conservatives for future runs and fundraising. As a Democrat, I don’t mind when Republicans find more social conservatives to run, so there is a bright spot.
General Borling is deeply confused concerning the Republican Party in Illinois. He seems to think it is the socially moderate party of Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar. Before the election, he also thought that a serious understanding of foreign policy was expected of Senate Candidates. He has been disabused of that notion quite quickly. He is a decent man who ran a decent campaign.
Steve Rauschenberger is bright and funny and caustic and everything voters say they want. He doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, he tells you the truth as he sees it. And apparently about 8 percent of the voters are consistent with what they say they want and what they really want.
During his time the the lege he has shown himself to be an eagle-eyed budget analyst that suffered no fools regardless of party. He blasted both G-Ryan and Blagojevich when they tried budgetary tricks. He was often a one-man truth in budgeting operation. Much like Fitzgerald’s obsession with political integrity, Rauschenberger has held an obsession for fiscal integrity.
Rauschenberger is a social conservative, but he is a social conservative who does not scapegoat other groups–he just disagrees. In a democracy disagreements are common, but he is the type who can disagree on issues while ensuring that the disagreement is over principle and not personalities.
Finally, Rauschenberger is a strong force in the Republican Party towards both exorcising the corruption, but also building bridges between those of different ideologies. He does not buy into the idea that ideological purity is the only thing to make a good Republican. And this is important. If the Republican Party is going to be an effective opposition, it must address those issues the average Illinoisan is concerned with and not just that of a motivated, but ultimately small group of angry social conservatives. Rauschenberger is one of the few politicians in a position to save the Republican Party from itself.