71 Comments - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:17 am: Politics is what I call the ” reverse Maytag”. You go in clean and come out dirty. Those that have what it takes to win don’t have what it takes to withstand the many temptations to do wrong. - Pelon - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:19 am: Well said. I’m an independent, and I find the GOP message less and less appealing. I’d like to see them focus on fiscal discipline which, unfortunately, will require tax increases and benefit cuts to make up for years of overspending. My guess, though, is that we will see the more extreme elements gain control over the party. - Cheryl44 - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:20 am: The Il Dems raised the income tax rate in this state from 3 to 5% and yet, Dems wins seats and Pat Quinn is still governor. Yes, he’s right. The GOP really needs to rethink its platform and strategy. - shore - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:20 am: Schock was touted as a key Romney surrogate for his ability to “reach out to young voters”, aside from getting a few coed heritage foundation interns to swoon over his abs, I’m not sure how well he did in this. He did a few fundraisers for Dold to build his Lake Forest fundraising network but otherwise was a non factor. I’m also not bullish on Peter Roskam, who has close ties to these super pacs which as you noted earlier, flopped badly. With Kirk recovering, it was Roskam’s job to help shore (no pun intended) up these freshmen that made him deputy whip and he really did nothing and they got crushed. I was also disappointed in Kirk who Dold really needed to film a 30 second closing ad to say this guy is like me and not tea party. Porter and his exwife went all out for Kirk in 2000 and he should have reciprocated for dold. To walk 37 flights of stairs, joke about drinking beer and then watch dold lose by 2,500 votes while he protected his image, was I thought unbecoming given what 10th republicans had done for him the last 12 years. - shore - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:22 am: Also I’m on record right now if it’s schock, dillard, rutherford, or even just one or two of them, I think Walsh gets in and wins handily. Bill Brady can sit down, you cost the party a gerrymander, you’re finished. - wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:24 am: If the GOP is going to move to the center, they’re going to need some help from their right-wing media, as well. That will be tough. Fox News is enormously profitable, telling their slice of the country what they want to hear. Rush makes boatloads, too. It was remarkable to see how clueless some of the right-wing punditry was. George Will predicted Romney would win 321 electoral votes, including Minnesota. Dick Morris and Michael Barone were in the same neighborhood. - Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:26 am: Walsh? Are you kidding? - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:26 am: Schock has no intention of acting moderate. Look at his signature on Norquist’s remarkably short sighted pledge. http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/091411-federalpledgesigners.pdf - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:30 am: “We have to run candidates who can compete in districts that are swing or Democratic seats. Don’t offend moderate women and young people. We can’t have candidates who say silly things.” I think we need to parse what Schock is saying. While it is certainly true that Republican candidates lost votes because of things they said; the real concern for voters was that those were things the candidates actually believed. And some of their floor votes appeared to back that up. It is one thing to say the things Murdock, Akin, and Dold said in regards to the abortion discussion, but the reason they got so much traction is that they appeared to actually believe those things AND the Democrats were able to point to a vote on a Republican-sponsored bill to back that up. - OneMan - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:32 am: We need to learn that ideological purity is useless without winning elections… Pure and simple, this isn’t church. You can have purity of essence all you want but if you don’t win elections it is useless. - RNUG - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:33 am: I hope Schock means it and can actually influence the rest of the party. I’ve been embarrassed for a long time by most of the hard right social position issues the GOP pushes to its detriment. The GOP should get out of the bedroom and concentrate on the economic message and try to be inclusive while doing so. Preach self reliance and personal responsibitity. Even consider actually legalizing some drugs; that would be consistent with personal responsibility. But I don’t see the GOP of today being smart enough to make such a shift or even go part way … - PQ's Primary Opponent - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:35 am: the GOP IS INSIGNIFICANT in Illinois. The race for the mansion begins and ends in the Democratic primary 2014. PERIOD - Endangered Moderate Species - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:37 am: Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, FOX, etc. have hurt the GOP. They play to the ultra-conservatives and trounce on anyone who may question their wisdom. Many Mods and Indies are turned off by the right wing rhetorical style. - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:39 am: I listened to a long discussion on this topic this morning on NPR (Diane Rehm) and the guests were saying the same thing as Schock. They seemed to think they needed to change the rhetoric, but not the underlying policies. It won’t work. The Dems will be able to point at the bills and list the names of the sponsors. They made a big mistake by allowing moderate conservatives to be pushed off of the ballot and out of the party. - Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:43 am: There’s a pretty strong argument that the “Conservative” movement has run its course. The low taxes, strong military and traditional values was BS from the beginning. But now people are catching on that it’s BS. Bush took the “Conservative” movement pretty far. He started a completely unnecessary war and created huge amounts of debt to spend money on the military and transfer money to the rich. Why would voters go along with these policies? The “Conservative” movement has also made strong appeals to “White” identity politics. The grievances “White” people feel–grievances mostly driven by the economy and technology–are subtly blamed on Blacks, immigrants, Muslims, homosexuals, single women, Jews, urbanites, etc. The Republicans are sorta stuck. They are meth addicts for “White” identity politics. That’s where the GOP gets their votes. But they are also addicted to the money or cranky old billionaires. And this is where Citizens United is a real problem for the GOP. No that a few billionaires can own the GOP that’s the way it’s gonna be. Who is crazy enough to give $20 million or more for an election? The billionaires who are crazy enough to give the big bucks are now the bosses in the GOP. So Citizens United leaves the GOP beholden to the most eccentric donors. The GOP is not in a healthy place. I think that there are three paths that could destroy the GOP. 1. A grassroots movement organizes a political party and becomes the chief alternative to the Democrats. 2. A billionaire or group of billionaires organizes something analogous to the Reform Party and becomes the chief alternative to the Democrats. 3. Progressive Democrats increasing and more rigidly organize into a caucus that peals away from the Democrats and the conservative faction of the Democrats absorbs the GOP. - amalia - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:45 am: “don’t offend moderate women and young people.” so I guess as long as you “don’t offend” you are cool? wrong. and, news flash, you weren’t just offending those people. you were just plain offensive. however, the offensive comments served also to unearth the positions, long held, of many ultra conservative Republicans, which means almost the whole party now. you can’t be for something before you were against it if you were never for it in the first place. your moderates are gone. as for Democrats, don’t get smug. unearth the positions which themselves are offensive and make sure everyone knows about them. you can’t plan on stupid, no matter how many members of Congress in the Republican party showed that in the last cycle. - DownstateDem - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:45 am: Tough for me to take anything Schock says seriously about Tuesday when, excluding his own race, Schock was 0-4 in the races in which he got involved (ads/mailers/robocalls/etc.). Pat Sullivan, Bobby Schilling, Randy Frese and Frank Ierulli (Peoria Co. State’s Atty. candidate) all got beat. Not a good day for Schock, Shearer & co. - Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:46 am: If the GOP can’t keep Joe Walsh happy with a cable TV gig, the Illinois GOP is going to have problems. - Robert the Bruce - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:46 am: ==Schock has no intention of acting moderate. Look at his signature on Norquist’s remarkably short sighted pledge== Schock’s quotes were talking about social conervatives, not economic plans. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see that he has a record of voting, or even statements, that would make him sounds socially conservative as well. - vise77 - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:51 am: Very well said, Rich. Hey, Republicans out there: I, along with my wife and many of my good friends, lean toward left on some issues but go right on many others. We ache for reasonable, moderate Republicans to walk the talk at all levels of govt. (what, you think I like Madigan?) For now, we are de-facto Dems, and have been since at least 2004, when your side, among other sins, accused people like of me of basically being godless traitors. Your loss. And just so you know: I am white, professional, around 40, paid my own way through school and all that, and urban and reasonably well off. You keep running these clowns like Walsh and kissing the ring of Rush, and I’ll keep voting Dem for decades without even a second thought. So will the vast majority of my circle and even a growing number of my relatives, many of whom remain Downstate and have been voting GOP since ‘80. What other choice do I have? - The Captain - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:53 am: WALSH!!! Every two years I tend to think these post-mortems on the state of the losing party are overreactions but it’s quite difficult to overreact to 40 seats in the Senate. That’s just insane, it has no modern era equivalent. But apparently the way to move forward from that drubbing is more WALSH!!! so I’m very optimistic about what the future has for us, entertainment-wise. - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:53 am: Robert, To assume that this election was a total disaster only on the basis of social issues, would be a huge misread by the GOP. Their fiscal stance is impossible to reconcile. Cut everyone’s tax 20% increase military spending and BOOM problems solved. Romney’s 47% comments stung so badly, because it is actually about 98% of people that receive government assistance in their life. You can’t completely destroy the program funded by the government. Revenue increases are required. Plain and simple. - Seriously - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:54 am: As long as Adam A and Walsh types are welcomed near the GOP tent, the Illinois GOP will not become any type of factor….and Joe Walsh for Governor, REALLY??? Shock needs more time and the GOP needs a miracle. - wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:03 am: –Revenue increases are required. Plain and simple. – And cuts. Federal revenues are at about 15.4% of GDP, the lowest in 60 years, while outlays are running about 25%, the highest since WWII. The spike in spending come came from bills passed in September 2008 in response to the crash, as well as a 5% Social Security COLA. Since FY 2009, spending has been relatively stable but not sustainable that high a percentage of GDP. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=200 - He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:03 am: I am a Repbulican, I am astounded by the “Ultra Vanilla” candidates we are putting up. We are WAY to far Right. It seems that the GOP wants to keep sending the “OLD Guard” to run, and it is NOT working. It is very noticible that the country is pro choice, does not care about gay marriage, and is becoming more minority driven. Why can’t the party see this? There needs to be a major shake up at the top and not just in the Legislature but in the State and National Party, or the party will be history. - TJ - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:04 am: It’s a tough situation for the Illinois Republican Party. In order to more broadly appeal to women and Latinos, they need to actually start supporting policies and speaking rhetoric that appeals to those voting blocks. In order for that to happen, more moderate Republicans need to be elected, or even just nominated in the first place. Only problem is that in order to nominated, they need to first get elected by Republican caucus voters who are far further to the right than the rest of the state. So, to get nominated, they need to be far right. Once that’s done though, they’ve already lost any hope to appeal to the very people they need in order to get elected. And it’s not like women and Latinos are going to register Republican en masse to vote for more moderate GOPers with the current political climate. Here are the facts…. Blagojevich and other corrupt Democrats are still fresh memories for voters, there’s a lot of anger at the state budget mess that Democrats control, Quinn is universally viewed as a joke, and there’s still fear over the economy and unemployment, and even with all of that the Democrats have thoroughly drubbed the GOP the last two elections. If they can’t win with all that going for them (or, more appropriately, against the Democrats), then I don’t know how they’ll ever win again. - Carl Nyberg - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:05 am: In the beginning Adam A was much more of a pragmatic reformer. He only went to the extremes after he hooked-up with the Tea Party crowd. - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:05 am: I agree word. The difference being, I don’t see any pledges from Dems saying no to any spending cuts… ever - Precinct Captain - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:07 am: Who knew that parties had to cultivate communities in order to consistently win at the ballot box instead of treating fellow Americans with disrespect and downright disdain? - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:08 am: Tea partiers Schilling and Walsh are gone. The GOP would do better for itself to forget about them. - Holdingontomywallet - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:08 am: The GOP will remain irrelevant in Illinois and nationally. We have reached the “tipping point” as a country where we have more takers than “givers”. Illinois mirrors the country where large metropolitan areas rule the political landscape. It will only get worse as immigration “reform” is passed and more hand-outs are given by the government. People love free stuff. “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.” Alexander Tytler - What planet is he from? - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:12 am: I wonder what would happen if they opened up the primary? Would that moderate the selection process? - ArchPundit - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:15 am: ====I think Walsh gets in and wins handily. Why not just bring back Keyes. - muon - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:16 am: Another opportunity for the IL GOP is to recognize what irks young voters. The assumption that the large youth vote was an isolated instance from 2008 was not accurate. They came out again this year, but the GOP message was largely calibrated to a middle aged audience. The young voters care about fairness in politics, and that should be an opportunity for any candidate who is looking for their vote. - Cincinnatus - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:16 am: Mr. Schock meet Mrs. Biggert… Republicans need to get some ideas fleshed out and on paper. Here’s one more tip, my friends, social issues are toxic to our superior message of limited government. These issues, like gay marriage, are best taken out of the hands of the learned poobahs in Springfield and left to the citizens of the state via Constitutional Amendment. Let the chips fall where they may. With these distractions out of play, let’s have the argument with Democrats about the proper size (regulations), funding, and fiscal matters, and the we can quit running after whatever shiny objects the Democrats through in front of us that distracts from the most important issues in the state. - mr. whipple - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:18 am: State Republicans may be introspectively assessing the needs and ideals of the party and how to try to develop relevance. But they’re also going to look for a whipping boy. Bill Brady, come on down. Because he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in 2010, the GOP lost its firewall. Skip, Sid, et al will look back and point the finger at Brady. Imagine what the state house and senate might look like today if Kirk Dillard had been the GOP nominee. The hard right of the Republican party has itself to blame for the map and the resulting electoral catastrophe. - Knome Sane - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:19 am: I never thought I would quote Alec Baldwin but he was spot on in his criticism of the Republican party this past election cycle: “You know your party is in trouble when people ask did the rape guy win, and you have to ask which one?” - cassandra - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:21 am: But Cheryl, have they felt the tax increase yet? The impact was probably blunted for many by the temporary federal payroll tax cut. Who knows how the negotiations over the fiscal cliff will end up, but there seems to be a lot of consensus that the payroll tax cut will end, possibly starting January. When that happens, will the clamor for keeping Quinn’s tax increase temporary get louder? I guess we’ll see. In the new, even more Democratic Illinois, the Democrats will be the deciders. - zatoichi - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:22 am: This comes from being stuck in a self enclosed time warp focused on me, me, me. The Repubs can focus on the old white guy who has the money, but that group is quickly slipping into the statistical minority while the votes that actually elect people are coming out for every other group. The election clearly showed that spending billions does not guarantee the vote. There are plenty of moderate Republicans out there, but if you are going to have to face the torch/pitch fork crowd why put in the effort because anything less then 100% compliance gets whacked. Well the reality is coming out that the pundits and consultants are not the geniuses of the world. There is a huge crowd waiting for someone with the fortitude to believe in the cause but also work across the aisle, bend the philosophy when needed, and tell the nay sayers to shut up. Fixing the gridlock and budget mess requires cooperation. Don’t want to do that? Go join the Whigs. - Fight for Chicago - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:23 am: Blame it on conservatism all you want. Walsh and Schilling are gone, but so are Dold and Biggert. Hell, Saviano lost. The establishment picked Romney, and he lost having every advantage and dollar in the world. Maybe continuing to run the same kind of campaign Romney did, that McCain did, that Brady did might just be a losing strategy. Playing to let the other side lose isn’t going to work. When you run on nothing, the other side can define you on whoever you want. Someone come up with one sentence to what Romney was running on. And that problem from the top of the ticket helped destroy everyone below in Illinois. In Metro East saying you’re pro-life isn’t going to cost you votes, but the GOP got killed there too. - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:26 am: Tillman can only see through his red-colored glasses. Romney scored in the first debate, not because he was aggressive and on the offense, but because he was aggressively moderate. - Angry Republican - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:28 am: A much better question to ask at this point is if the IL-GOP ceased to exist would anybody care? With the exception of Tom Cross and Christine Radogno I think the answer is no. - Been There - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:30 am: ===Among the estimated 12 percent of Illinois voters who are Latinos, 81 percent backed Obama=== With this high percentage of Latinos voting Dem it is pretty close to impossible for the GOP to move the needle without inroads there. That 81% of 12% is 10% of the total vote to start out with. All you need to pick up this state is 40% of the balance. That is a jump start that is hard to overcome. Now throw in the black vote and you probably only need 25% of the total white vote to win statewide. As Rich pointed out suburban women are running from the GOP. And not all white men are republicans. The Green Party is going to catch up to them soon. - Tom - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:31 am: One of the reasons Madigan is so successful is he recruits candidates that match their districts on the top social issues. The republicans rarely do. That is why they lose and we win. - Springfieldish - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:36 am: Oh Please! That quote is not by Alexander Tytler, not that an early 18th Century Scottish defender of the Monarchy would have any relevance today. The quote is by Elmer T. Peterson, from 1950’s Oklahoma news editorial. This is demonstrative of the fluid core values of the far-right of the GOP. Side-swiping the truth will get you single-term congressman at the expense of long-term growth. But balance of the comments above are closer to the true, solid core of the Tea Party, and why they stand on the precipice of relevance. Xenophobia is simply un-American. - Willie Stark - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:40 am: For those curious as to whether or not the GOP base got the message of Tuesday night, might I suggest a perusal of the Illinois Review? Current offerings include posts: blaming voters for believing in a “bastardized American Dream”, a suggestion that the “job creators” should just “Go Galt” and deny the rest of us takers their trickle-down beneficence, the latest craziness (referenced by Rich) from zealot Rand fan-boy John Tillman, Joe Walsh 2014!, invoking the hallowed memory of well-known tax increaser, compromiser, and massive deficit spender Saint Ronald Reagan (if Republicans actually believed in facts anymore, I’d tell them to look it up, but nothing can intrude on the reality distortion field), a fresh post on the debunked, pre-election canard that Obama was going to bail out IL pensions, and a statement from a Staten Island priest welcoming the “collision course of the Obama Administration with the Catholic Church” (newsflash: Obama won the Catholic vote, though admittedly it was close to even). If you want some national flavor of a similar ilk, go check out National Review. So, Mr. Schock, your problem is a little more than branding and saying the wrong things, though neither helps. But, I’m comforted that you believe it. The current GOP apparatus needs a 12-step program. Hint: Step 1 is admitting you have a problem. - mongo - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:42 am: The 2016 election, the 2020 election, those are not about many of us more “mature” commenters. My 27 year old and his 23 year old partner, spouse, or girlfriend are working this week in Arizona. They went out of their way to vote early. They were proud of it and talked about it at work. They were petrified at the notion of a Romney win. They were embarrassed to be buying a home where they get to vote for Congress and my goodness it is Joe Walsh! Who the heck stands at the water cooler and says “My Congressman, Joe Walsh, was really on target last night.” No one. I am a D, but enjoy voting for good R candidates from time to time. The Republican Party must jettison the tea party types and move to the center. - David Ormsby - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:59 am: Aaron needs to add to his list of voters not to offend–gays and lesbians. Their parents, siblings, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc, and the 800,000 Illinois adults who turn out at the annual gay pride parade and in which serious candidates for state office, well, march, they don’t take kindly to gay-rights bashing types. - Willie Stark - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 11:59 am: Apologies, I stand corrected. Tuesday’s message was received by the GOP. A sampling of current headlines: *Family Research Council calls for ‘civil disobedience’ to block same sex marriages *Las Vegas business owner fires 22 ‘mostly Hispanic’ employees over Obama win *Limbaugh: Obama treats women voters “like vaginas” Brings to mind the fable of the scorpion and the frog. I’d say to the GOP moderates, break away and start a new party, but then you’d probably come to realize that you’re actually centrist Democrats. - just sayin' - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:06 pm: “Party leadership needs to start hitting back at these people.” Agreed, but IL GOP needs to get some first. - Justbabs - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:07 pm: What about Judy B-T saying the youth vote is low because they are all playing video games and not turning out to vote? Lost more votes right there (WBEZ). - Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:09 pm: The Tea Party folks I have met are very nice. Many of them were retired working-class, former big-D Dems, and they are all white folks and they were all afraid…of socialism, sharia law, gay marriage, brown people taking over, etc. The Republicans can win an election or two with these folks, but in the long run, they are a shrinking demographic and the things they fear are the things the growing demographic groups value. It’s a recipe for long-term decline. - Roadiepig - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:34 pm: As a lifelong fiscally conservative and socially liberal I too have left the remains of what was once my Republican Party . This saddens me because I do think there needs to be someone in office that can see that constantly building debt (locally to nationally) is bad for this countries future. Unfortunately the billionaire PAC funders have taken over the bankrolling of tea party wingnuts and pushed any non-compliant moderate to the end of the bench. Amazing how this present group took the issue of federal debt as their main complaint against the president, ignoring how much of this debt was on the last presidents watch due to the two wars and collapsed economy post 9/11. If the republicans ever want to be a factor in the future they will have to find ways to convince women and Hispanics that they aren’t at war against their side. On and if the remaining Republicans could send a little less time listening to talk radio programs that preach to the far right choir that might have time to study facts instead and pick mor winnable candidates in the next primaries too - Been There - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:35 pm: ===Who knew that parties had to cultivate communities in order to consistently win at the ballot box instead of treating fellow Americans with disrespect and downright disdain?==== Pct Capt got right. The GOP needs to start cultivating candidates that match their districts at the lowest level. They use to own plenty of counties at the township level and had huge support among suburban mayors. The problem is those areas have changed and even though their old cronies may still be in charge they are still old white dudes. Get more middle class blacks and Latinos. Many are business owners who at least might be conservative enough on fiscal issues to run for town mayor or supervisor. Get them in at that level and then try to get them bumped up to rep or senate. Unless the GOP has more than just white people they are toast. Some of those millions of dollars that the PAC’s spent at the last minute on losing candidates for Congress (talked about in another post) should be used now at the grassroots level. - Todd - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:41 pm: schock was right on 13 of 13 votes to protect Davis Bacon and supporting PLAs. matter of fact, many of the new republicans were good on those issues, especially the attmpts to undo Davis Bacon. But from Indinana to Romney there was a war launched agaisnt not only public sector unions, but private sector as well. And when younger, to middle age white guys with no college fear losing the security of their pay check, they will vote their union cards first. Romney said on Day one he would undo the PLA executive order. He said he was for right to work and wanted to repeal Davis-Bacon. the first thing, the ultra right of the GOP needs to due, is quit picking on the guys who work in the trades. If they face having to fear putting food on the table and paying the mortgage, you ain’t gonna get their vote. After Indiana you saw IR and NFIB and a couple others start bringing up right to work. It gave the dems the opportunity to galvanize those who might otherwise be receptive to the fiscal message and other things they find important. You drove many white males away. Add that to under perfroming in other areas and chasing voters away and you have a receipe for disaster. but Biggert was no died in the wool neo-con. She was pro-choice, voted for Davis Bacon. But the map and a hometown President sealed the deal in many cases. - Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 12:56 pm: =With Kirk recovering, it was Roskam’s job to help shore (no pun intended) up these freshmen that made him deputy whip and he really did nothing and they got crushed.= Personally, shore, I think you have alot of gall to blame Roskam for this one. Considering the “nature” of the problems we have in ILGOP right now, I personally would have chosen to distance myself a bit to live to fight another day, too. I’m not saying that’s what Peter did because I have no idea, but it’s certainly what I would have done. - jake - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 1:38 pm: Politics is pretty simple really. If you want to win, you build a tent that is big enough for your base and for some selected group of crossovers. And you do it district by district. If you do that, and work hard and smart, you win. If you don’t, you lose. For the most part, the Republicans are building their tent way too small, and making the price of entering the tent too large. It is not a matter of how they are presenting the message, but rather the message itself, which is a message that they represent only the interests and ideals of a small and shrinking demographic minority of the voters. I am a Democrat, but I remember crossing over to vote for Chuck Percy for Senate (not against Paul Simon, but in campaigns prior to when Simon ran). Chuck Percy could not find a home in today’s Republican Party. In fact, I wonder if Jim Edgar could–the change has been that dramatic in just the last few years. - train111 - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 2:13 pm: In terms of the Latino vote, the one statistic that came out of this election that I would think would put the fear of God into any serious GOP operative was the fact that Obama won 49% to 47% among the Cuban Americans in Florida. That was the first time the GOP lost that demographic. You take Florida off the electoral map and it will be a long long time before we see another Republican president. train111 - wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 2:37 pm: –It will only get worse as immigration “reform” is passed and more hand-outs are given by the government. People love free stuff.– Thanks for the factless talking points. You must watch a lot of TV. Who are the givers and who are the takers? What handouts are you referring to? If you’re talking Social Security and Medicare, more seniors voted for Romney. Government or military pensions, VA benefits — are those folks takers, too? What about mortgage and child-tax credits? Takers? Just fill us in on this phenomenon, and all the free stuff, too. - hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 3:05 pm: Schock was endorsing so many candidates this cycle and yet what did his tv spots deliver? Ierulli lost the states atty race. Sullivan lost the stae senate race. Schilling lost peoria. If illinois republicans are going to be relevant they need to run on more than the grover norquist pledge and billionaire superpac money in 2014. - Ms. Reasonable - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 3:19 pm: The Illinois GOP and National GOP must immediately begin to work on strategies that attract young voters, women,and minority groups. If not, IL will never lean more for the GOP. I want my party to be more inclusive for all people. Mr. Schock should continue fighting for the GOP in Washington, D.C. - Calhoun Native - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 3:53 pm: “If you know you’re a party that needs to win independent and Democratic voters, you can’t be so strident,” he said. The good Congressman does not practice what he preaches. His Facebook page postings include an blank book with the quote “Obama’s Second Term Agenda”, a critique of Joe Biden after the debate “All I could think was thank God he’s not President”, several strident posts about repealing “ObamaCare”, a picture of a bumper sticker about Obama that said “DONE” to which the Congressman said “Let us only HOPE he’s right”, and so on. You can’t be so strident? Take away the demeanor and there’s no difference in the messaging between Joe Walsh and Schock. - Esquire - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 4:09 pm: You can make efforts to attract suburban mothers and Latinos a priority, but if the Republican Party does not file candidates in every district how can they ever expect to compete? Obama supports are giddy over their vote totals. On a national basis or in other battleground states, there may be cause for celebrating. But fact the facts, the Republicans have not waged a full fledged campaign and contested Illinois for its Electoral College votes (a diminishing number) since 1988. No one was organizing Du Page or Lake Counties for Romney this year. Congratulations, you won by default. Outside of the primary elections, the presidential candidates have not visited Illinois for any purpose other than fundraising in almost a quarter of a century. While Illinois was not contested, Obama was able to send buses filled with Chicagoans into Wisconsin. - Nuclear Badger - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 4:29 pm: Am I missing something? A look at the Illinois results by county shows Obama winning Cook by about 960,000 votes and Romney winning the other 101 counties by about 133,000, and with more votes than he won in Indiana or Missouri. And that with a Republican orginization that was inept, didn’t care and/or gave up. Just saying. - wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 4:36 pm: –Am I missing something? A look at the Illinois results by county shows Obama winning Cook by about 960,000 votes and Romney winning the other 101 counties by about 133,000, and with more votes than he won in Indiana or Missouri.– I think you’re missing the utter irrelevance of how you get beat by 840,000 votes. - anon - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 5:11 pm: Schock is a tool. He took orders from Caterpillar and tried to dump Dave Koehler when the “Peoria Pair” (1d/1R) has benefitted that community for decades. He wouldnt know how to lead if his life depended on it. - mark walker - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 5:18 pm: Every Dem I know laughed whan they heard that the DH put Walsh on the front page as a possible candidate for Governor. Each expressed a version of the same thought: could Quinn get so lucky again? Schock is viewed as only slightly more ready than Plummer for a real job. At least four current or former GOP State Senators could run well against Quinn, as could a lot of business types. - walkinfool - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 5:52 pm: oops - Can Anyone Hear Me? - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 6:59 pm: When did Romney and his campaign suddenly go on the upswing and scare us Dems to death that he might turn it around and win? At the first debate when he suddenly sounded reasonable and moderate (in contrast to his previous right-wing crazy talk). Unless the Illinois GOP mans up and gets rid of the crazies and moderates its messages and candidates, especially in the suburbs, it will continue to win some downstate legislative seats and lose EVERY statewide race. - mokenavince - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:21 pm: He signed th Norquist pledge,sounds like he can’t like he can’t think for himself. Looks like the Republicans will deal themselves the final blow when they take us over the cliff. - ArchPundit - Thursday, Nov 8, 12 @ 10:35 pm: ==Am I missing something? A look at the Illinois results by county shows Obama winning Cook by about 960,000 votes and Romney winning the other 101 counties by about 133,000, Counties don’t vote, people do. The reason for that is one person-one vote which I find to be a pretty critical aspect of democracy. Perhaps you would like to make the case for representation by square mile? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.