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The two candidates in the 17th Congressional District faced off for the first time yesterday. As usual, red herrings and bugaboos were fully on display.
Republican congressional candidate Andrea Zinga sought Monday to link her opponent to a possible impeachment of President Bush and to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s ethics problems.Democrat Phil Hare played up his experience as a congressional aide and accused Republicans of doing a lousy job of fighting terrorism and providing health care to senior citizens.
Zinga, a former television reporter, said a Hare victory would move the Democrats closer to regaining control of the U.S. House. If that happens, she said, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., likely would be elected speaker and launch impeachment proceedings against the president.
That Pelosi argument seems more than a bit weak on several levels. Zinga’s own poll (just 300 respondents, making the margin of error stupendously high, but it’s her poll so that’s the one she uses to make her game plan) showed that 75 percent of likely voters in the district had either never heard of Pelosi or didn’t know enough about her to have an opinion. 49 percent strongly disapprove of President Bush’s job performance, while another 12 percent somewhat disapproved.
Meanwhile, she also sought to link Hare and Gov. Blagojevich.
[Zinga] said one of Hare’s key backers works in Blagojevich’s patronage office, where “they have put aside veterans who have preferential hiring in order to hire campaign contributors.”
That would most likely be John Gianulis, a top patronage official in the governor’s office. John G is the chairman of the Rock Island County Democratic Party and helped engineer Hare’s victory in the precinct committeeman primary to replace Lane Evans.
What have you heard about this race lately?
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 8:24 am
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I have heard rumors that Hare has been seen shopping for a neck tie. They are, at this time, still rumors.
All I hear is that the common sense profiling “error” has helped Zinga a bit.
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 8:38 am
Rich, I live in this district and I must say, no one is supporting Zinga. Every time she speaks she loses more votes. The racial profiling comment a week or two ago lost her points big time. The entire northern end of the district (the part that wasn’t gerryamdnered to be totally democrat) has a genuine disdain for Zinga from her time as a TV anchor. Having tried to use Lane Evans disability against him in 04 lost her even more votes. As long as Hare doesn’t do anything incredibly stupid he will win by a landslide.
Zinga is a terrible candidate that has offered absolutely no reason to vote for her. She has to try and come up with outlandish and totally unrelated issues to talk about. She is trying to tie Rod B. to a congressional campaign. She is trying to tie Hare to an impeachment call. Its just not working. Lying to the voters doesn’t win elections around here.
Comment by Robbie Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 8:50 am
Robbie, all politics is local.
Jim Mowen would have been a much better candidate and he would have presented a clear alternative to Lane Evans and Phil Hare.
I have done two large parades in the 17th CD. In both parades, which were the East Moline 4th of July Parade and the Sterling Fiesta Days Parade, Phil had very minimal support and Zinga had quite a few people. You would think that after 24 years in office Lane’s name would at least carry credibility and service into Phil’s campaign, but it has not. This will be an interesting one.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 9:05 am
Charlie Johnston runs this campaign and he’s responsible for some of the gaffes coming out of it. That’s what I’ve heard.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 9:40 am
Zinga and Hare will face off this weekend on the local NPR station.
Zinga’s racial profiling comments are only a problem with Care Bears who think it is always evil to racially profile, even during wartime. They lack common sense. Even Hare recognizes that challenging Zinga on her “slip”, would strengthen her politically and show the 17th that he cares more about terrorists’ rights than theirs. So, smartly, he is ignoring it. His supporters should follow his lead if they want to win.
It is also true that Zinga generates jealousies. Her successes nationally with CNN and her local celebrity status makes wanna-be leaders green. This is always the case when local celebrities use their exposure to run for office. It is one of their weaknesses.
Finally, it is just plain wrong to disrespect ladies regardless of whether you disagree with them politically. I consider Pelosi an nightmare, but still admire her successes. It is called being a man and being a gentleman. Democrats can’t have it both ways. How can they claim to be a leader in women’s rights, but gut female candidates using sexist remarks? The party Nancy Pelosi leads needs to show some respect to all ladies.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 9:52 am
Ok, so it’s OK to tie Phil Hare to Rod Blagojevich — then is it OK to tie Andrea Zinga to George Ryan? What a bunch of B.S.
So is targeting staff or campaign supporters, like Zinga apparently did.
She’s highhanded, offensive and off the mark.
I am confident voters will punish her for her unrelentingly negative campaign.
Comment by values matter Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 9:58 am
Zinga has too much ground to make up.
Comment by Truthful James Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 10:04 am
What an embarassing situation. An open seat and neither candidate is worthy of voting for. The District is hard Democrat and Zinga puts forth nothing to give someone a reason to switch - even though Hare is awful.
This race is Hare’s and unless he does something unbelievably stupid, he waltzes in.
The issue will be…can the Republicans find the leadership (and then the candidate) to challenge in 2008. I agree with Anonymous above, Mowen was the Republicans only chance.
Comment by zinged again Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 10:18 am
Someone needs to remind Hare who supported HJR0125. A petition to the US Congress by the Illinois GA,
Urges the General Assembly to submit charges to the U. S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for willfully violating his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and if found guilty urges his removal from office and disqualification to hold any other office in the United States.
Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 10:20 am
Sure wish that Amy Stockwell was the candidate in the 17th for the Democrats. She was the best candidate in the race to replace Lane.
Comment by decatur boy Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 10:21 am
Vanilla Man - you couldn’t be more wrong. First off no one around here is jealous of Zinga. We all actually wonder why her career went from CNN to WHBF? That really doesn’t seem like an upward move on the career scale. She was a local news anchor, who was only adored by grade school kids when she visited their class.
You say that her racist comments are helping her, yet go around her district and talk to the voters. They will tell you quite the different story. And trust me, I have talked to plenty of people about it.
BB - quit spewing your baseless accusations. We all read them at Illinoize already. If you actually look at the people you listed, all but 2 are from cook county and none of them are from areas represented by the 17th CD. Hare has absolutely no connection to CHicago based state reps other than they belong to the same political party. Implying he needs to answer for their ideas is absolutely childish. BB, get soem better material buddy.
Comment by Robbie Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 10:37 am
Zinga at least had the backbone to discuss the real issues of the terrorist/ profiling, while Hare is going to be the ’status quo’ candidate that runs his campaign (and in the future, his office), not in a manner that is best for the people, but what get’s him elected (and reelcted).
Zinga…(Robbie is right) let’s face it, got fired at CNN (she certainly did not say, “I am CNN, every newscasters dream, but, boy, I really miss local TV!”).
Comment by zinged again Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 10:49 am
Terrorist profiling is not racial profiling. It is called common sense. Voters want security. We won’t get it from a bunch of people afraid of their own shadow and claiming we’re racists. If Hare continues to run from policies to fight and win this war, he’s worst than useless.
Also, top Democratic leaders have already announced that impeaching a war-time president is at the top of their agenda if they take Congress. So Zinga is not out of line bringing this nightmare scenario up.
We cannot have a wartime president impeached. The anti-Bush crowd will demand his head if they win control of Congress. Such a move would destroy the US.
Comment by anon Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 11:18 am
Robbie,
Here is a list of all states and local government with impeachment resolutions. The States of Illinois, California, and Vermont. Pending for the City of Chicago. It’s on the ballot in Champaign and Urbana. For Hare to say he’s not aware of any Democrats pushing for impeachment is a real stretch.
Hardley a basless accusation I’m spewing here.
Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 2:35 pm
BB, first you forgot to close your link tag, it made most of your post active. To be honest I don’t expect him to be aware of it. I know I wasn’t aware of it. Like I mentioned before, even though many overzealous dems like to scream impeachment, I don’t think many people take those claims seriously. (Aside form all these darn cook county dems)
But the problem with this argument is Zinga is trying to connect Hare to this movement even though it is just cook county state reps that are doing it. It has not been an issue with congress, it has not been an issue in the 17CD, it hasn’t been an issue in the campaign. But instead of looking at things the 17th might need, she is busy trying to make Hare look bad. All it does is make her look childish. The reason I call it a baseless accusation is because you nor Zinga have absolutely any ties between Hare and the chicago dems who want to impeach.
On a side note I got passed on the interstate by Zinga on lunch break. She was driving very fast in her ugly campaignomobile. I had my Hare bumper sticker so she didn’t like my wave too much.
Comment by Robbie Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 3:31 pm
Let’s just assume that Hare wins this year.
Anybody else think he would be a one-termer? I would imagine several Democrats are going to be more than willing to go up against him in a 2008 primary.
Also, the GOP will have the opportunity to nominate a stronger candidate.
The Democrat primary could be brutal and whoever is nominated there, I think this seat is going to be one of the prime GOP pickup opportunities in the nation in 2008.
Robbie, I applaud your political devotion to your party, but people really aren’t going to take you seriously when you make statements such as “nobody is supporting Zinga†or that she is losing voters every time she speaks.
She obviously has some support and at an absolute bare minimum will get 40 % of the vote this year.
Comment by Establishment Republican Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 3:49 pm
Robbie,
Get in touch with the Democratic Party. Danny Davis, Jan Schawkosky along with 35 other Democrats introduced H. Res. 635,
Creating a select committee to investigate the Administration’s intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.
You think Hare can avoid taking a stand on this even if he is ignorant on it? The issue is some how off limits? How can I be spewing falsehoods when some leading Democrats are proud of introdcuing a resolution like this?
Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 4:03 pm
E.R. - way to look past what I say and attack semantics. Had I said ‘Zinga seems to have very little support’ and ‘every time Zinga speaks she seems to hurt her campaign’ would that make you happy??? Obviously people are going to vote for her, it was merely a figure of speech. If I said that I was ’so hungry I could eat a horse’ would that mean I really wanted to eat a horse?
BB - there are 2 very different arguments that you managed to mold into 1. When this discussion originally started, you were stating that the Il. house dems were the reason Phil was in support of impeachment. Yet the issue in the debate was that if Hare gets elected that it will push the house closer to democrat and Pelosi control. You are the only one drawing the conclusion that because the IL dems had a resolution that Hare has to have a position. If you look at the AP article about the debate, it actually says that Pelosi doesn’t intend to impeach.
You are once again assuming because something wasn’t mentioned in an article that a candidate owes you a direct response.
Comment by Robbie Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 4:49 pm
Robbie, Read the QC papers on what Hare said,
Hare, an aide to retiring U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, said he doesn’t know of any Democrats talking about impeachment.
“I don’t know where that one came from. That came from way out in left field,” he said after debating Zinga in a forum hosted by WILL-TV.
He’s not paying attention to the likes of Davis and Schawkosky and the kind of resolutions they’re proudly introducing in Congress.
We’re left to conclude Hare is either ignorant of what senior leaders in the Illinois Party are advocating, or that Hare is trying to avoid an issue he ought to take a stand on by just claiming he’s out of touch.
It’s pretty sorry performance on an issue of some importance to people on either side of it.
Hare prefers to be no where it seems.
Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 6:16 pm
Travel the district. Maybe 10 Hare yard sign outside of Rock Island County. Hare has been an insider for 22 years that has never visited the district but was the “District Director”. No wonder the district is suffering so badly.
Phil has stayed put in Rock Island 90% of the time since he got the nod on June 6th. This is what he has done for 22 years. Seems that all he cares about is winning Rock Island and thinks that is all he needs to do to win. That may be the case but the district as a whole will suffer for it because that is how he will govern.
Comment by Former National Guard Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 7:34 pm
Hare has more than 100 signs in Macon County alone. Hare will win.
Comment by hare a winner Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 8:25 pm
BB - I know you like demanding information from democrats in order to look bad, but as a citizen of the 17th, I don’t feel that Hare missing this is all that big of a deal. I would like to also point out that at no time did Zinga (or any other repub. for that matter) speak out against this particular resolution.
I took the time to look at the link you provided. I noticed that the only ‘news’ on the bill was that it went into subcommittee. The date on that move? December of 05. Was Phil Hare in congress in Dec? Was Phil Hare even a candidate in December? Now I know this might not fully explain why he hasn’t heard of it, but I certianly wouldnt expect him as a district director to be familiar with every bill that simply goes directly into committee.
There has been little to no action on this bill with the exception of co-sponsors periodically signing on. While I realize that a few are from Illinois, I don’t think that brings it to national attention. I personally had not heard of this amendment, and I doubt most people have. BB, if you personally are familiar with it, I congratulate you. You are in an exclusive club.
As I mentioned before, I feel this is a non-issue as far as selecting the next congressman for the 17th. And remember, Hare’s lack of response is the same as Zinga’s lack of a denoucnement, so if anything shouldn’t the issue be a push???
National Gaurd - I see Hare signs all over in Galesburg. I have only seen 1 or 2 Zinga signs. In addition Phil has made several stops down here already and will be down a couple more times in the next week or so.
Comment by Robbie Tuesday, Sep 19, 06 @ 9:51 pm
Just the opposite for me Robbie… the GWOT is about the only issue in this campaign for me. It’s the only reason Duckworth is a candidate in the 6th. How a candidate falls on this resolution, or their opinion on it if their unaware of it, is really how I would vote…
Creating a select committee to investigate the Administration’s intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.
For me every other issue is on the back burner…
Comment by Bill Baar Wednesday, Sep 20, 06 @ 2:06 am