* First things first. If you’re gonna attack a congressman for his military/war voting record, you should probably use a local veteran instead of somebody from Peoria. Then, make sure you vet the vet…
North Shore Democratic congressional candidate Dan Seals’ campaign on Tuesday defended using an Iraq War veteran with ties to the 9/11 conspiracy movement in a new TV ad attacking Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk for supporting the war.
Seals spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said she didn’t “really see what is so controversial” about using Caleb Davis in the ad. Davis, 25, is a Peoria native who spent five months in Iraq as an Army diver and got an honorable discharge in 2004.
Last June, the Peoria Journal Star reported that Davis wore a black T-shirt proclaiming “Investigate 9/ 11@911truth.org” while sitting at a table at a Peoria library where books, fliers and DVDs supporting conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks were on display. The organization argues the government’s version of the terrorist attacks is fraudulent and offers a “Top 40 Reasons to Doubt the Official Story” and an “Official Coverup Guide.”
Kirk, who was in the Pentagon when the airplane crashed into it Sept. 11, 2001, called on Seals to stop airing the ad.
In case you missed it before, the Seals ad is here.
* Kirk sponsored a press conference yesterday attended by several veterans who blasted Seals and his ad…
Local veterans for Kirk countered with 23-year-old Joe Cook of Wauconda, an Army vet who lost a portion of his left leg to a roadside bomb while on patrol. Cook said he was outraged when he saw the ad. He supported Davis’ right to an opinion, but said the statement that Kirk doesn’t support veterans is false.
“When I got injured, Mark Kirk was one of the first people to call my household and asked if there was anything he could do,” he said. “I know enough to know that what he did at the North Chicago VA is something special.
* Seals apparently has some local support from veterans…
An hour later, Seals gathered his own group of North Shore veterans who thought the ad was on the mark.
* And Caleb Davis denies he’s a conspiracy theorist…
ABC7 could not reach Caleb Davis for comment. He has issued a statement through the Seals campaign saying he believes the 911 attacks were committed by Al Qaeda terrorists, in effect denying that he is a conspiracy theorist.
But why go with an out-of-district spokesperson who has such an iffy past?
It just doesn’t make sense.
Seals says he will not pull the ad. Kirk says his campaign will answer with an ad blitz during the last weeks before the election.
I’m sure he will.
* Seals isn’t doing all that well on the money front, either…
Now it looks like Seals, a Wilmette Democrat has a bit of a cash squeeze for such a tight contest. He reports having had $240,479 on hand on Sept. 30. He raised $660,936 in the last three months – just shy of the $700,000 his campaign claimed he raised in a press release earlier.
* More…
From July 1 through Sept. 30, Kirk reported having more than $1.8 million on hand, compared with about $240,000 for Seals. Kirk listed total receipts of $852,000 for the three-month period compared with about $714,000 for Seals. […]
“I would put a little less stock in those (cash on hand) numbers because we’re spending now,” [Seals] said. “The thing to watch is the turnout - how many people are interested.”
* Meanwhile, Jim Oberweis is getting creamed by Democratic incumbent Bill Foster…
According to campaign finance reports provided by the campaigns, Foster has approximately $692,000 in available cash, compared to Oberweis’ $324,000.
Foster’s camp boasted more than $621,000 in contributions between July 1 and Sept. 30, which supporters described as a quarterly record for a Democrat in the district. […]
Oberweis’ quarterly take was bolstered by his $225,000 personal loan to the campaign, while he received a little more than $88,000 in donations, his report states.
* Democrat Colleen Callahan is also getting creamed in the 16th…
…Callahan has raised a total of about $443,600 and has about $53,170 left to spend in the final weeks leading up to the Nov. 4 general election. […]
Republican Aaron Schock raised a total of about $2,303,155 and has about $466,000 left to spend, although he said the bulk of what’s left will be used on television advertisements this month.
* PI has a nifty spreadsheet…
* More…
* Halvorson has slight fundraising lead over Ozinga
* Bean still way ahead in fundraising race
LIVE session coverage...
- doubtful - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:10 am:
Wow, Bean and Kirk have a lot of cash on hand. Maybe someone should tell them that early voting has already started and the election is only a couple weeks away.
Seems like a stupid move by Seals, but I think most of Seals ’support’ is Obama coattails anyway, so I’m not sure it will make an impact.
What is it with campaigns making centerpieces out of unvetted everymen? It just smacks of unpreparedness and desperation.
- Skeptical of Gov't - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:11 am:
What questions about the 9/11 attacks are acceptable?
If you accept a Dem/GOP commission as the final word on what happened, don’t you fall into the category of being excessively gullible?
And the traditional media–the guys that showed no skepticism about invading Iraq–certainly have no moral ground for criticizing someone as being a conspiracy theorist on the 9/11 attacks.
BTW, what proof did the media demand the government produce before it went along with the story that ObL and al Qaeda were behind the 9/11 attacks? Or did the media just take the government’s word?
- wordslinger - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:17 am:
Amateur hour by the Seals campaign. You knew something was wrong when they didn’t put a name to the soldier.
This is an odd story all the way around. How did they hook up with this guy? According to the original PJS story, back in June, Davis was at some regular get-together of 9/11 conspiracists at the library.
- shore - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:42 am:
http://www.il10votersforchange.com/
Seals is also using the guy as a tenth voter, when peoria is absolutely not part of the district.
And again, weller’s district is more gopleaning and the democrat is doing alright there, hastert’s district is more gopleaning and they have a democratic rep, and yet seals hasn’t been able to break through.
And that’s before he’s outspent 7-1 over the next few weeks.
- One of Three Puppets - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:48 am:
Rich how do you think the 10th will shape out?
- VanillaMan - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:05 pm:
Seals continues to show a lack of direction and message contemporary enough to challenge Kirk. He is arguing over recent history and we don’t care about what a lame duck president did five years ago. We have new problems, but he isn’t offering anything new. He looks embarrassingly amateur.
He needs to hope that Obama has coat tails.
- Phil Collins - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:09 pm:
I’m a veteran who lives in Rep, Kirk’s district, and I know that he helps veterans. I was in the navy for 21 years, including six months near Baghdad. I was a patient at the North Chicago VA hospital, which received money because of Rep. Kirk, and I received excellent, fast care. I read that Kirk usually receives good ratings from Disabled American Veterans.
- Vote Quimby! - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:23 pm:
What a dismal showing for Oberweis. You would think by now he would learn 15 days before an election is not the time to be raising money.
- adam smith - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:31 pm:
The thing that floors me is the quote from Seals’ campaign. They don’t think that the fact that this guy has expressed support for the 9/11 conspiracy fringe is an issue??? The Dems have him locked back in his rubber room and issue a statement on his behalf intended to make the guy look mainstream, but it is too late. They just didn’t think his associations and opinions were outside of the mainstream and pattently offensive to the vast majority of Americans. It again shows where the Dems’ colective head is at. Seals is probably holding back his Holocaust deniers and second gunman kooks for his final push.
Kirk will get all the media endoresements (which cuts a lot of ice on the North Shore) and bury Seals with a media blitz and put an end to this guy’s accidental political career.
- Ken in Aurora - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:41 pm:
“Meanwhile, Jim Oberweis is getting creamed by Democratic incumbent Bill Foster…”
Bad, Rich - death to punsters!
- Anon - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:51 pm:
Kinda hard to swift boat your opponent with a vet who isn’t swift and doesn’t have both oars in the water.
- train111 - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:51 pm:
I’m also floored by the Oberweis figures. Only $88K in donations besides what he himself chucked in. Perhaps he has turned off more people that I thought. I live in 14 and was going to vote for Foster all along, but I figured Obie had a much better chance in November since it isn’t a flukey special like occurred this past spring. Maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps the voters see his ‘reinvention’ of a ‘kinder, gentler’ himself as nothing more than a cheap ploy — well it is!!. Maybe Foster pulls this out for a full term after all.
train111
- in the know - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 12:59 pm:
rich, the progress illinois site make one mistake. Callahan does have a $50k loan on the books to her campaign, bringing her real total, assuming wants to come out of this campaign in the black, at a little over $3,000.
- Anonymous - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 1:04 pm:
I find it amusing that Seals wants to criticize Kirk on veterans issues after the Illinois Democratic Party worked so hard to keep veteran and Green Party candidate Dave Kalbfleisch off the ballot. Now Seals won’t have anyone else to blame when he loses again.
However, I will say in his defense that I don’t think airing an ad that has nothing to do with 9/11 conspiracies equates to Seals endorsing such views just because the speaker in the ad might believe such things.
- GOP'er - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 1:05 pm:
Oberweis has been done since he hooked up with Hastert. That was sufficient to beat back Lauzen, and that’s all Hastert cared about.
Now Oberweis is like a man without a country. Reformers can’t stand him because of his sell out, and even Hastert & Friends have never really liked the guy. No one ever really trusts or respects a traitor again. He’s officially used up now. Of no use but as a lesson for others, a bad example that no one else should want to repeat.
Foster beats the Waffle House handily, again.
- Wumpus - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 1:07 pm:
Godo point shore, didn’t someone get in trouble for portraying a nondistrict voter sa one recently?
- Black Ivy - Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 1:33 pm:
All this talk (a distraction tactic in my opinion) about how much candidates have raised for their respective races further reinforces the need for strengthened campaign finance laws. I look forward to the day when Rich spends less time talking about fundraising and more time hammering candidates on positions on issues.
In the meantime, Rich, your summary is appreciated.
- Rico - Sunday, Oct 19, 08 @ 8:43 am:
seals prepaid for tv