[Peace-discuss] Illinois Congressional elections

[Tom Abram]

Several of those races have or had Green Party candidates as well.

The 8th had Iain Abernathy, who was throw off the ballot by the Democrats on
bogus slating technicalities.

The 10th had David Kalbfleisch, Iraq War veteran, who was thrown off the
ballot by the Democrats for the primary and then again for the general.

The 11th has Jason Wallace, Iraq War veteran, who has been running a very
strong campaign with a significant amount of press.  He's been in the
campaign the longest, since the others jumped in only when Weller announced
retirement.

The 14th had Robert Hill, Iraq War veteran, thrown off the ballot by the
Democrats on bogus slating technicalities.

The 18th has Sheldon Schafer, who's had some decent press.

Unfortunately, we don't have a candidate in the 15th.  We would have liked
to, but did not find anyone in time.

There are also several other congressional candidates in Illinois:

Jerome Pohlen's in the 3rd against Dan Lipinski, a bellicose machine
Democrat.

Omar Lopez is in the 4th.  He was a main organizer of the immigrant marches
in Chicago and was recently on the cover of the Chicago Reader.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/greenparty/

Alan Augustson's in the 5th against Rahm Emmanuel, who was the head of the
Democratic Congressional Committee in 2006 and handpicked the conservative,
pro-war candidates that replaced the conservative, pro-war Republicans.

Morris Shanfield's technically in the 8th, but I honestly haven't heard a
peep out of him.

Rodger Jennings, Steve Alesch, and Scott Summers are running in the 12, 13,
and 16th districts, respectively, have some good campaigns going.

Our candidate in the 17th, Troy Dennis, was kicked off the ballot, and our
candidate in the 19th, Vic Roberts, recently passed away.

All Green congressional candidates are firmly against the war.  I guess
those "leading the conservative movement" didn't want to promote that
viewpoint.

The last Illinois Green Congressional candidate was our very own Carl
Estabrook in 2002, who ran against another weak Democrat, Tim Hartke.
Achieving statewide ballot access was incredibly useful to getting our
candidates on the ballot.  Can you imagine how many candidates' voices have
been stifled due to undemocratic ballot access restrictions?  And not just
Greens.  There were several Libertarian and Constitutional candidates this
year who were thrown off the ballot, due to incredibly high requirements.
Is that really in our best interest?

Tom Abram

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 5:16 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> [The real story here is the Democrats' unwillingness to run progressive
> candidates, especially on the Mideast war, which has cost them seats they
> might
> have won.  The worst example is the 6th CD, where in 2006 a independent
> anti-war
> Democrat was excluded for a candidate hand-picked by the right-wing
> Democratic
> Congressional Campaign Committee -- who then proceeded to lose to a
> Republican
> whom the anti-war candidate may well have beaten.  We might also note that
> the
> safety of the Republican seat in the 15th CD comes in part from the fact
> that
> the Democratic party has not contributed to a progressive opponent. Some
> two-party system...  --CGE]
>
> House 2008
>
> Illinois-6: Rep. Peter Roskam (R) was a bright spot for
> Republicans—particularly
> for pro-life conservatives—with his slim victory in the brutal year of
> 2006,
> holding onto the seat of retired Rep. Henry Hyde (R). The 6th District, in
> the
> Southwest suburbs of Chicago, was one of the prime battlegrounds of that
> election, with disabled Iraq veteran Tammy Duckworth (D) drawing huge
> support
> from Democrats nationwide.
>
> Democrats had hoped Duckworth would run again this year, but by the summer
> of
> 2007, when she was serving as the state's veterans affairs director, she
> decided
> against a rematch. That left Roskam mostly safe. As of June 30, Roskam had
> outraised his opponent, Iraq veteran Jill Morganthaler (D), $1.8 million to
> half
> a million dollars.
>
> Considering Roskam beat a better-funded top-tier candidate in 2006, it's
> hard to
> imagine how he could lose to a lesser candidate with less money. It would
> take a
> serious Roskam error or quite a Democratic tsunami for Roskam to lose.
> Likely
> Republican Retention.
>
> Illinois-8: Republicans have probably missed their chance to win back Rep.
> Phil
> Crane's (R) former district in the Northern suburbs of Chicago. Although
> Rep.
> Melissa Bean (D) will have to work hard to win a third term, she is the
> strong
> favorite.
>
> Republican businessman Steve Greenberg (R) can't compete with Bean's money,
> or
> name recognition. At the end of June, Bean had a staggering 16-to-1
> advantage in
> terms of cash-on-hand.
>
> Nationwide, the Democratic sweep of upper-middle-class suburbia is not
> reversible in the forseeable future. This seat, long held by a conservative
> Republican, is now a Democratic seat. Leaning Democratic Retention.
>
> Illinois-10: Rep. Mark Kirk (R) may never have an easy reelection in this
> wealthy North Shore suburban district. While the district has been in
> Republican
> hands since it was first drawn in its current form in 1982, it is the very
> model
> of the Democrats' suburban takeover targets. Most households in Kirk's
> district
> earn higher than $78,000, making the median household in Kirk's district
> 62%
> wealthier than the median household in the U.S. The median home is worth
> more
> than $400,000—double the national median. The district is 81% white and
> 7.4% Asian.
>
> While suburbs on Chicago's Southside, such as Roskam's district, are more
> working-class, and more conservative, Northside suburbs like Winnetka and
> Deerfield in Kirk's district are different. To put it in overly simplified
> terms: White Sox fans are pro-life, while Cubs fans are not. In Kirk's
> favor, he
> is basically a proverbial "Cubs Fan" himself, amassing a fairly moderate
> voting
> record.
>
> After a narrow win in his first election in 2000, Kirk cruised through his
> 2002
> and 2004 reelects before having to fight for his job in 2006. Businessman
> Dan
> Seals (D) held Kirk to 53% two years ago, and he's come back for a rematch.
> While Obama will win this district, it's hard to imagine his driving
> turnout any
> more than a presidential year normally does. Kirk as of June 30 had doubled
> Seals' fundraising with an impressive $3.9 million.
>
> While this seat will go Democratic at some point, Kirk looks fine this
> year.
> Leaning Republican Retention.
>
> Illinois-11: The race to fill the seat of retiring Rep. Jerry Weller (R)
> promises to be Illinois' hot contest of 2008. Democrats have nominated
> state
> Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D) while Republicans, after some
> fits
> and starts, have settled on concrete-maker Martin Ozinga (R).
>
> The district lies South of Chicago, along the Indiana border, and then runs
> along I-80 two-thirds of the way across the state. In recent history tilts
> slightly Republican, and is closer demographically to Roskam's district
> than to
> Kirk's. The 11th is also largely rural. All other things being equal, the
> Republican would have an advantage here.
>
> But all other things are not equal. Ozinga got a late start because
> Republicans
> originally nominated New Lenox Mayor Tim Balderman (R), who quickly dropped
> out
> when his hatred of fundraising proved disqualifying. Republican committee
> chairman gathered, and, as parties often do when scrambling for an
> emergency
> candidate, they chose the guy with money.
>
> Two question marks hang over Ozinga's candidacy, and both are tied to the
> fact
> that he has donated to Democrats in Illinois: First, will conservatives,
> who
> first backed the alternatives to Ozinga, line up behind the establishment's
> pick? Second, is Ozinga tainted with the corruption of Chicago Mayor
> Richard
> Daley (D) or Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D)? Republicans, sometimes in
> criticism and sometimes in defense, argue that Ozinga was paying political
> protection money—that giving to Democrats is the cost of doing business in
> the
> corrupt world of Illinois.
>
> Ozinga's problems don't stop there. He's a carpet-bagger, not really from
> the
> district, and he was hit for being late on some property taxes. Halvorson
> hardly
> has a clean record herself. She has the same political mentor as Obama:
> patronage politician Emil Jones, the Senate president. As chairman of the
> Ethics
> Committee, she helped block an ethics reform measure this year (aimed at
> limiting campaign contributions of major state contractors), but then gave
> up
> her gavel, allegedly to avoid getting heat about this during her
> congressional race.
>
> With Halvorson so steeped in the Democratic establishment, and with
> corruption
> scandals, indictments, and impeachment threats plaguing both of the
> Democrats'
> power centers (indictments of dozens of Daley aides in Chicago, and the
> world
> crashing around Blagojevich in Springfield), Ozinga is having some luck
> running
> as an outsider. "I am not a politician," his signs, ads, and website blare.
> It's
> almost a page out of the book of 14th District candidate Jim Oberweis (R,
> see
> below), but for Ozinga, it seems to be working.
>
> Another question: Does Weller's shadow hang over this district? Certainly,
> the
> outgoing incumbent has done little to ensure the district would stay in GOP
> hands after his retirement. Also, Weller leaves under a cloud of scandal.
> Ozinga's distance from Weller is a boon.
>
> While across the country 2008 will be bad for Republicans, and while
> Illinois's
> favorite son, Barack Obama, is atop the ballot this fall, Election Day in
> Illinois could prove to be a GOP triumph. Ozinga's race might be the
> bellwether
> for the state. Early poll numbers are encouraging for Halvorson, though.
> Keep an
> eye on this one. Leaning Democratic Takeover.
>
> Illinois-14: The 14th District of Illinois is emblematic of Republicans'
> national problems. Four-term U.S. Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), after
> years
> of failed GOP promises about limiting government and curbing spending,
> resigned
> early, apparently in order to advance his lobbying career.
>
> Dairy millionaire Jim Oberweis (R) came out overconfident after a bitter
> GOP
> primary, and lost the special election this spring to liberal scientist
> Bill
> Foster (D). The question now is: Can Oberweis rebound and beat Congressman
> Foster in November?
>
> This is Oberweis's fifth try for elected office, after losing primaries for
> U.S.
> Senate twice, for governor once, and losing the special election March. He
> has
> near total name recognition in the district, thanks in part to his
> company's ice
> cream. Given this high profile, his effort to remake his image by November
> is a
> tall order.
>
> Oberweis's first step is patch things up with other Republicans in his
> district.
> Namely, his scorched-earth primary victory over state Sen. Chris Lauzen (R)
> has
> left Lauzen bitter and many Republican activists turned off. While the
> Lauzen
> backers who stayed home from the special election will show up in November,
> Oberweis won't have access to many of the phone-bankers and door-knockers
> that
> this district otherwise could provide.
>
> Foster, meanwhile, scored a coup by winning increased federal funding for
> the
> Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the district.
>
> Until Oberweis shows he is successfully remaking his image, Foster is the
> strong
> favorite. Leaning Democratic Retention.
>
> Illinois-18: State Rep. Aaron Schock (R) is in line to replace retiring
> Rep. Ray
> LaHood (R). The 27-year-old phenom has heavily outraised former TV reporter
> Colleen Callahan (D), and massively outspent her. A hustling politician and
> a
> conservative farm boy in a conservative rural district, Schock would need
> to
> make a major misstep in order to lose here. Likely Republican Retention.
> [This is the guy Wayne's been telling us about.  --CGE]
>
> http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28029
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