19 Comments - Bill Baar - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 7:43 am: Tell me more about Scott. Who’s funding him? What kind of hispanic vote can he bring? I’m not surprized by Cegelis. I am surprized by Scott. - Hard Times - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 8:15 am: I heard recently that a large chunk of Scott’s $ came from Pennslyvania; is that true? My next question is this: with just about a million in the bank, is it reasonable to expect anyone to beat Roskum? Is it not possible that the 44% Cegelis got was also a symptom of Hyde’s contracting Phil Craneitis and that Kerry’s 47 was more indicative of Illinois voters turning away from an increasingly rightist President? If this was the case, does anyone else think that Rahm is making a huge mistake? - Anon - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:19 am: Spidel was a state campaign coordinator for Krazy Kucinich? Good luck with that Christine. - Anon. - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:25 am: Ouch. - Anon. - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:43 am: Although I would come to the same conclusion as you, Anon 10:19, that tossing out her old manager and bringing in a Kucinich state director is like tossing the seive you’ve been bailing out your sinking ship with in favor of a bucket - better, but likely with the same result. Having said that - I will take exception to the “Krazy” label. Dennis Kucinich is very far to the political left, no doubt. But he has true ideological purity. And a remarkable story - from a poor family to mayor of a major city to the House. He’s what Dean supporters always hoped, wished, and thought Dean was. Not crazy. Just not viable. - nobodysent - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:49 am: Most of the Scott money is Scott money. - Anon - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 11:04 am: Bill- Scott raised $29K and loaned himself the rest. He has a good following in and around Wheaton College and is doing a good job. But he also has no campaign office, staff or organization in place. - Back for More - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 11:48 am: Anyone know anything about Christine’s old manager? Anyone know how long these discussions had been in th works? - No Comment - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 1:04 pm: How does Kucinich remain ideological purity by switching from being Pro-Life to pro-choice once he began a campaign for President? - Will - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 2:49 pm: Kucinich suggested Bush was wrong about WMD’s in Iraq months before the war started. Yep, certifiably crazy. Kevin Spidel had a bigger role than state director near the end of the Kucinich campaign. - Anon. - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 3:35 pm: NC, you do expose Kucinich’s political opportunism. But put in the context of his peers, and certainly beyond that flip-flop, the guy is reliably lefty. And hey, the brigade of suburban moms, recent -college grads and tech-heads who comprised the core of Howard Dean’s support were obviously willing to overlook his routine A ratings with the NRA. - Anon. - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 4:08 pm: If nothing else, credit Cegelis with having a spokesperson named Camaro. Rock on! - Stone Hack - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 6:54 pm: Christine- Time to pull the plug on this venture! You were forced to withdraw for lack of funds. At this point you loose nothing. - inish - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:04 pm: 44% while admirable, it is still less than the 47% that the Kerry got- meaning voters switched tickets So the real question is- did they vote for Cegalis or against a Republican ticket? It is too bad, she has worked that district hard. - NancyZ - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:27 pm: Scott has raised a valid question in all of the recent debates: Who has the best chance of winning against Roskam in November, especially in light of the fact that we won’t have Obama’s coattails this time. Christine has worked hard but she will be portrayed as far left Democrat who cannot bring swing voters into the Democratic camp. She would be lucky to get the same 44%. Duckworth would be questioned as to her roots in the district, and worse, her being tied to Rahm and the Chicago machine. She has celebrity status but that wears off against Roskam’s money. Scott would have the solid vote of the Democrats, strong support by Latinos and other immigrants, moderate religious folk, and he could therefore win over a majority of the swing voters. Is there something wrong with this logic? He seems to me like the Dem with the best chance of beating Roskam. - Not Tellin - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:48 pm: Cegelis meltdown may have been brewing a while. I’ve a friend who worked on the campaign a few months ago but got disgusted by the manager’s ineptitude. No clear plan, no written strategy, etc. Gotta agree with Hard Times on this one: Is Rahm kidding himself in this district? - Not Tellin - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:53 pm: BTW — about the 8th. Bartels endorses Kathy Salvi. Completely unsubstantiated rumor has it the race is a three-way between Salvi, spend-a-thon banker David McSweeney and Rep. Bob Churchill. Bartels had no traction running fourth and would rather see a woman face Bean in the fall. - Buckit - Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 11:32 pm: Camaro - thanks for that quote of the week, and for burning an image of Cegelis in free fall into all of our memory banks. Not Tellin - When a campaign suffers the chronic problems that the Cegelis campaign is suffering, the source of the problem is always the same: the Candidate. It is candidates who are always changing the campaign’s message, strategy and tactics. Candidates who run from a written campaign plan like a three year-old running from a bath — because signing off on the campaign plan means giving up control. And it is candidates who refuse to pick up the phone and call the people closest to them and ask them to make a significant contribution to their campaign. Look at Cegelis’s campaign filings, and I’ll bet you’ll see very few people with the last name Cegelis. I bet you’ll see very few who maxxed out their giving. Remember, this is not a poor district, and Cegelis lives well enough to loan her campaign $40K — she knows plenty of people who can write a check for $2100 if they are asked and they believe. Either Cegelis is unwilling to ask, or the people who know her best don’t believe in her candidacy, which is telling. IF the campaign staff can be faulted for anything, it is for failing to recognize the harsh reality that Sens. Durbin, Obama, Lt. Gov. Quinn, Cong. Emanuel et al. were going to be fully backing another candidate, or failing to convince their candidate to accept this harsh reality. Despite the rumors of Duckworth’s candidacy that had been circulating since October all over Illinois, Cegelis continued to chart a course for victory that depended on scores of endorsements from labor, national progressive groups like NOW, Planned Parenthood and EMILY’s List, and fundraising from big progressive donors. Those groups will most likely be with Duckworth now, something most of us could have predicted two months ago. The definition of insanity, they say, is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. If Cegelis wants to change the course of the election, she doesn’t need to change staff — she needs to change herself. P.S. Cegelis’s campaign manager was poised to quit once already, and he and Adelstein-Liston were leaving one way or another (with the money all gone), so this has been a long time coming. It was generous of them to allow Cegelis to put out the story that they were let go — Cegelis’s remaining supporters should return that generosity by NOT TAKING POT-SHOTS AT THEM IN THE BACK. - NancyZ - Saturday, Feb 11, 06 @ 9:50 pm: There’s a shift in the momentum in the 6th District. Perhaps it is due to the shake-up in the Cegelis’ team, but she did not even get the DFI endorsement. Scott made a great showing at the League of Women Voters Debate and at the Milton Township meeting. If Christine doesn’t make a better showing at the “Love your Candidate” forum on Tuesday, many more undecided locals will join the Scott campaign. They don’t want to split the grassroots vote and they believe he has the best chance of beating Roskam Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.