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Too funny
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Archpundit got the ball rolling yesterday to freep the Leader’s reader preference poll in the Phil Crane vs. Melissa Bean congressional race. Bean was down ten points when Arch blogged about it, but by the time the poll was pulled, Bean led Crane 75-25. The latest poll asks readers who won the Obama-Keyes Senate debate. At the moment, Keyes is ahead 59-41.
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Keyes’ new TV ad
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Just got a press release from Alan Keyes’ campaign. Their first TV ad is completed and will begin airing soon. No word yet on how big the buy is. From the release: The ad, entitled “Quotes,” is a 100 percent positive advertisement about Alan Keyes. It is running throughout the state, with a substantial purchase of ad time behind it. UPDATE: You can now view the ad here. Not exactly high production values.
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Oops
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Tari Renner’s campaign sent out an e-mail today begging supporters to pass the word about tonight’s debate with Congressman Jerry Weller. We need you to talk about tonight’s debate. Use word of mouth to talk about the values Tari Renner demonstrates tonight. Only problem is, there’s not a single mention in the e-mail about what time the debate will be held or which media outlet, if any, is broadcasting the event. Then again, Weller’s web presence is beyond pathetic. His campaign website’s press releases (both of them) are from two years ago. UPDATE: Chris Rhodes over at the CrossBlog just posted in the comments section that Weller has a new website, but he doesn’t use it much. It didn’t pop up on my quick Google search, so evidently very few people know about it. Like the other site, this one has only two press releases. And check out the section on Weller’s record. It’s completely empty. Sheesh.
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Axelrod does it again
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Just saw Barack Obama’s new TV ad that will debut tomorrow. It’s a testimonial ad showing brief “person on the street” interviews of what people think of Obama. Very well done. The Republicans contend that black voters and other Democrats won’t turn out heavily for Obama because they know he’s so far ahead. This ad is designed to reverse that. More about this topic in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.
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Don’t let him out of his bubble
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller I didn’t post it this morning, but the opening paragraphs of the Daily Herald’s story about Congressman Phil Crane perfectly illustrate why so many people think he’s out of touch. Congressman Phil Crane’s eyes dart around the packed Metra train as reporters sit nearby, waiting to discuss his railroad expansion plan. Oops.
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Historical value
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Check your copy of today’s Tribune. It might be worth something one day. Senior employees at the Chicago Tribune led a frantic effort to remove hundreds of thousands of copies of the paper’s WomanNews section Tuesday night in an attempt to keep readers from seeing a story editors deemed offensive. If anyone has a copy of that, fax me a copy.
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Afternoon wrap-up
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Evidently, Effingham has two negative races, Rep. Bill Grunloh’s and the state’s attorney contest: Few would argue the race for Effingham County state’s attorney may be one of the nastiest county races in recent history. It’s not as nasty as the lede implies, but local voters are definitely getting an earful this year. Here’s an unintentionally funny story from the Southern Illinoisan quoting Republicans whining about negative campaigns. My favorite line: Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, agreed and said negative advertisements don’t always play well in Southern Illinois. It’s nice to reassure ourselves with the occasional “negative ads are bad” article, but both sides are using them, and experience has shown that they seem to work especially well in southern Illinois. X-Ray machines are now being installed at the Statehouse: The installation of metal detectors and X-ray machines has begun at the state Capitol, part of a security makeover in response to last month’s shooting of a security guard just inside one of the building’s entrances.
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Morning wrap-up
Wednesday, Oct 27, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Blogger was down early this morning, so I had to post this via e-mail. Let’s hope it works and sorry about the length. Topping our list is this piece by Suburban Newspapers Nathaniel Zimmer about Sen. Steve Rauschenberger looking towards the ‘06 governor’s race. …..Once the Nov. 2 election is history, Rauschenberger The man who helped recruit Alan Keyes to come to Illinois has this to say about ideology: Rauschenberger spoke about the need to put aside philosophical differences and unite behind a core Republican vision and against Blagojevich. Read the whole thing. The man is trying to establish a language to speak to the entire party, but he was tainted this year by his almost complete capitulation to the right wing, and that will be difficult to overcome. He also didn’t help himself by proving that he couldn’t raise money (OK, it was a federal election, but how many $2,000 checks did he collect?) This is interesting. The Chicago Sun-Times (and others) have a story about how Scott Fawell agonized over turning rat against George Ryan. From prison, Scott Fawell told his fiancee that pleading guilty and flipping on his old boss, ex-Gov. George Ryan, “goes against everything I … believe in,” but he would “wave the white flag” so he could start a new life with her. [Snip] Check out the list of bigtime campaign contributions in the Supreme Court race that the good folks at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform have put together. Money is flooding into the race, but most of the funds come from a very few donors. And the largest donors appear themselves to be conduits for other interests, concerned mainly with tort reform. [Snip] The Chicago Tribune has a couple of quick stories on Democrats making headway McHenry and funny sign stealing story. The Daily Herald has a piece on bothPhil Crane and Melissa Bean. The Daily Southtown runs an editorial about a confusing local ballot issue, John Kass column about a high school newspaper in trouble for publishing stories about
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Debate notes
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller The tone of tonight’s debate seemed higher than before, perhaps because it was Phil Ponce and Public Television, or maybe it was the less formalized setting. Still, Alan Keyes gave us more of the same tonight - the rightist populist, too confident by half that he will ascend into heaven, debating not his opponent, but a heavily stylized caricature. Obama built on his criticisms of Keyes from the last debate, continuing his argument that one of Keyes’ justifications for opposing gay marriage (that children who don’t know their parents would “inevitably” have sex with a sibling) undercut the foundation of adoption. Using Jefferson and the 14th Amendment to deflate Keyes’ contention that no separation of church and state existed was good - it’s just too bad he didn’t have enough time to elaborate. The best part was that Obama finally stopped saying “uh” so much. I wrote more, but I’m saving it for tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.
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Much better than tonight’s Senate debate
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Howard Stern and FCC Chairman Michael Powell debated during a radio call-in show today. Stern called in to a show that had Powell on as a guest. I’m listening to it now. Very intense. Stern more than just suggests right off the bat that Powell’s dad got him the job.
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Leader poll freeped
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller It appears the Bean people are successfully freeping the Leader’s latest reader poll. 8th Congressional District Race. In what is likely to be the most competitive Congressional race in IL this year, who do you think will win?
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A side order of dirt
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Do you think the Democrats might be attempting to gently nudge the topic of Congressman Phil Crane’s struggle with alcoholism a little?
I didn’t think anything more about it until this morning, when I saw that the Sun-Times managed to work an alcoholism reference into its Crane story: Some suburban Republican leaders said they think Crane has spent less time and effort in the district in the last several years, particularly since he spent 30 days in rehab for alcoholism in 2000. So, I did a quick Google check, and found this recent story on national pundit Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” website:
Even with the booze issue, when all is said and done Sabato thinks Crane survives the rematch. Bean’s enhanced name recognition and the race’s presence on the national radar screen will probably make the outcome a lot closer this time around, but Crane, who replaced Donald Rumsfeld in this seat years ago, is a Chicago institution and remains the favorite to win a 19th term. “Chicago institution”? Not. More like “Washington, DC institution.” Almost nobody knows who Phil Crane is. He faded away long ago. And while I certainly don’t condone this sort of behavior, I think that if the Democrats are willing to stoop to using these naughty little tactics then maybe Bean does have a shot at winning. It ain’t easy to unseat an incumbent in an overwhelmingly GOP district. A little dirt is probably necessary. The Beanos will need all the help they can get. The Republicans brought in a negativity specialist this week, so hold onto your hats. I know the guy. He’s always fun to watch. I have no idea what will happen next, but I’m positive that Bean won’t like it much.
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I had to kill off two posts from a persistent commenter last week who wanted to focus on the subject. The poster was anonymous, but I had a hunch who it was, found out I was right, and, yes, he does have a connection to Democratic challenger Melissa Bean’s campaign, as well as, apparently, WAY too much time on his hands (although, I gotta admit, the posts were pretty funny and he should not take this as discouragement - keep it up, dude). 
According to national Democrats targeting the race, the attention that has been drawn to Crane’s lack of legislative activity coupled with the state GOP’s current disarray have conspired to make the 35-year House veteran vulnerable. They also say Crane’s stay at an alcohol rehabilitation center several years ago doesn’t help matters either, though the GOP says it’s an old issue. 
By the way, if the Republicans hadn’t panicked and eliminated straight-ticket voting after the 1996 election, then we wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now. The straight R’s would have overwhelmed Bean.|
Karnak
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller As I was web-surfing while waiting on return phonecalls, I found a new column by right-wing activist Paul Weyrich, who appears to have succinctly summed up the excuses and insults that those who cannot yet admit the obvious will surely be using next week. Keyes has made a valiant attempt but Illinois is increasingly Democratic. Keyes got a late start, has been a resident of Maryland and had very little money with which to run a statewide race. Obama, who is a hard-core leftist in a moderate package, has been touted for years as an up and coming star who will be the first male Black Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate. What’s with capitalizing the “b” in “black”?
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Whitman endorses Rep. Munson
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller Latest from the 43rd House District: ELGIN — In a development that suggests the race in the 43rd Representative District could be drawing more interest from Republican Party leaders than had previously been thought, Christie Todd Whitman, the high-profile former governor of New Jersey, endorsed incumbent state Rep. Ruth Munson at a press conference Monday. Thanks to NZ for the reminder.
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Notes from another planet
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller From Alan Keyes’ website, RenewAmerica. GREAT NEWS — Alan EXCEEDED the already high expectations of viewers in the second candidate debate for U.S. Senate from Illinois!! Please help us build on the momentum his sterling performance is generating with moral conservatives all over Illinois, and across the country. We need to increase our budget for our ad blitz next week across the state, and we need your contribution NOW!
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Kill the advance team
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller
Heck, even if Bunning was healthy there would be no excuse for staging a photo on a handicapped parking space.
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Kentucky US Senator Jim Bunning is currently facing down media reports that he is rapidly losing his mental faculties. So whoever set up this photo op ought to be shot. |
Reform and renewal
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller I can’t help but wonder what percentage of these workers are Republicans. Twenty-seven employees in the Springfield office of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation were notified Monday that their positions are being cut. And buried way down is the kicker: Although the four agencies were merged into one department, their director’s positions were retained to oversee the divisions within the new agency, and a secretary was named to head the entire department.
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Breaking news release
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller
And, of course, he can’t resist a plug for his new program. Gov. Blagojevich was able to quickly find the European vaccine using the state’s contacts with prescription drug suppliers in Europe who are providing medications for Illinois residents through the new I-SaveRx program.  Blagojevich and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle launched I-SaveRx to help the nearly 13 million residents of Illinois and more than 5 million residents of Wisconsin save 25 to 50 percent on the cost of their prescription drugs.  Illinois and Wisconsin residents can enroll in I-Save Rx by calling 1-866-ISAVE33 or visiting www.I-SaveRx.net.
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Terrible
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller I know that it’s been said many times before, but, man, the Illinois Democrats’ website is beyond weak. Completely useless might be a better description. Go check it out just for laughs. UPDATE: Someone over at the House Democrats (the people who run the state party) reminded me that when they were in the minority, they had lots of time to publish their own faxed newsletter. Yes, I remember that well. They’re a little busy these days. No time to invent computer games. Even so, DPI’s website sucks. How long would a sprucing up take? A few hours of one person’s time?
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US Senate roundup
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2004 - Posted by Rich Miller The Edwardsville Intelligencer decides not to go with either candidate in the US Senate race:
The paper also gave John Kerry one of the weakest endorsements I think I’ve ever seen in a presidential race. Meanwhile, the Daily Vidette has a piece today on the other candidates running for Senate. Although U.S. Senate candidates Barack Obama and Alan Keyes will face off tonight in the second debate of the race, there are two other candidates who will not be involved. The article is mostly a profile of Kohn, and the various write-in candidates are not mentioned. One of those write-ins, Mark Kuhnke, blasted out this e-mail yesterday: I’m asking my supporters to dig deep into their email lists and address books. Do you have a friend in Flora, a gal in Galena, a cousin in Quincy? ( I could go on, but you get my drift.) Let anyone and everyone you can know about this campaign, and send them the website address, www.kuhnke4senate.com. Has anyone seen these polls that Kuhnke is talking about? There’s nothing on his website and Google News produces only a single story for “Mark Kuhnke.” Finally, here’s the Quincy Herald Whig report on its 47th Senate District poll on the presidential and US Senate races that I wrote about today. Obama has a commanding 53 percent to 17 percent lead over Keyes among voters in The Herald-Whig/WGEM poll. Obama has gained six points since an Oct. 3 poll and has 84 percent of the Democratic vote and 37 percent of the Republican vote. Here’s my favorite part: “It (wasn’t) right to bring in Alan Keyes from out of state,” Lori said.
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We are making inroads, and a few polls have listed me as 1 - 3 %. One radio poll in southern Illinois had me at 9%, but it was not a significan number. Thank you for all your help to this point, and I thank you in advance for your support in the upcoming 10 days. Enjoy the game - Go Cards!….Mark Kuhnke MD
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