Congressional roundup
Wednesday, Nov 1, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The national Dems upgraded Seals a few days back, but the Sun-Times has more detail about what they’re up to.
Democrat Dan Seals is finally getting the attention of the national Democrats in his drive to defeat Rep. Mark Kirk in a 10th District congressional race that is getting closer than expected.
The Democratic House political operation, after declining to initially spend any money on Seals in favor of better prospects, is paying for a series of direct-mail pieces in the closing week of the campaign after polls indicated Seals may be within striking distance of Kirk.
One small indication of interest in the Kirk-Seals contest: early voting in the village of Northbrook, which has the highest early turnout of any suburban municipality in Cook County, according to Cook County Clerk David Orr.
* Animal Farm adds this:
For a guy who clamored for more debates against Republican Congressman Mark Kirk, Democrat Dan Seals sure treats his rare chances to debate Kirk funnily.
At the last minute, Seals pulled out of today’s debate in Waukegan. That’s the kind of behavior usually reserved for incumbents. True, it was a private event, but the public would have learned about the contrasting positions of Kirk and Seals through the newspaper reporting on the event. Seals did, however, have the time to stage a downtown news conference to try to keep alive an unflattering story about a Kirk staffer that’s now a week old.
‘The Tribune has the money roundup in the two big congressional races.
The Republican and Democratic national congressional committees have already poured more than $7 million into TV ads, mailings and phone calls in Illinois’ two hotly contested suburban contests, Federal Election Commission reports show, and millions more are expected to be spent in the hours before next week’s balloting. […]
In the 6th District contest, where veteran Republican Rep. Henry Hyde is retiring, the GOP committee has spent about $2.3 million while the Democratic committee has spent $1.7 million. In the 8th District, Democrats have spent $723,000 to help Bean defend the seat she won two years ago against longtime Republican Rep. Phil Crane.
Two years ago, the Republican committee spent $1.2 million on Crane’s behalf while the Democratic committee spent $880,000 to help Bean.
Bean received substantially less help from her party than her GOP counterpart because she is an incumbent. But the Democratic committee is expected to spend about $1 million more in the 8th District by Election Day as well as an additional $1 million in the 6th District, party sources said.
And the Daily Herald has a piece on worries about the third party candidate in Bean’s district.
Apparently worried that he could end up playing the spoiler in next Tuesday’s election, Democrats are telling voters in the suburban 8th Congressional District not to “throw away†their vote on the race’s third-party candidate.
A new campaign ad mailed on behalf of Congresswoman Melissa Bean, a Barrington Democrat, warns that casting an anti-war protest vote for peace activist Bill Scheurer could hurt Bean and derail Democrats’ attempt to win control of Congress.
“George W. Bush wants you to waste your vote,†reads the ad, which was paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and sent to Democrats.
It also claims Scheurer was “propped up†by Bean’s Republican challenger, Barrington Hills investment banker David McSweeney.
More here.
- Wumpus the Free - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:00 am:
Sniff, sniff, he was propped up? That smells like desperation. I am sure no one from McSweeney’s party lied to Scheurer and took his money to get signatures. Beaners are fools for not objecting to his being on the ballot.
- 10th Dem - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 10:29 am:
Mark Kirk agreed to the Waukegan event because organizers deferred to his conditions of having a pre-screened, Kirk-friendly audience. The Seals campaign pulled out when event organizers wouldn’t allow a more balanced program.
- 10th Indy - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 12:09 pm:
Waukegan City Club has held a candidate forum every election cycle for years. The 10th’s a big district, and Waukegan is its largest city - dumb for Seals to ignore it – he needs to talk to people who live here and vote here – not just his supporters from Chicago and Evanston.
- zena - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 12:52 pm:
I’m a volunteer with the Seals campaign. I can tell you that Seals was warned against going to Waukegan City Club because of the debacle in ‘04 between Mark Kirk-Lee Goodman. The audience (screened in Kirk’s favor) got sloppy drunk and shouted Goodman down whenever he tried to speak. It would have been a no-win situation for Seals, especially as the media was not allowed to cover the event either.
The big question is, why won’t Kirk appear with Seals at an event that’s free and open to the public (and the media)? The only one he would agree to was the Oct. 26 debate, and judging from the audience’s positive reaction to Seals I’m guessing Kirk can’t stand the heat.
It’s time to get him out of the kitchen!
- 10th Dem - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 1:47 pm:
Dan’s not ignoring Waukegan at all — on the contrary, he’s been to Waukegan several times. The city has a very diverse population that is hardly represented by the elite crowd at the yacht club last night.
Dan will be in Waukegan again Nov. 6 with Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Dick Durbin … THAT event is free, and open to the public and the media!
- 10th Dem - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 1:50 pm:
Sorry to keep posting but I needed to correct an Animal Farm error … The media was NOT allowed inside the Waukegan Yacht Club event last night. Candidates could speak to reporters “after the event.”
- waukegan city club member - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 3:52 pm:
The media is always invited to attend City Club political forums. In fact press releases are issued. It’s true they ask questions afterwards, but they are always a part of the audience. They are even invited for dinner beforehand.
The Chicago public radio station was at the event and set up a microphone at the podium. I was told they broadcast a news segment of it this morning.
The New Sun reporter was also there (He was at City Club the week before too). Furthermore, a large contingent of the Chicagoland media was expected at City Club last evening until Mr. Seal decided to pull out the day of the event.
- waukegan city club member - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 4:44 pm:
Oh, and one thing, the City Club is a strictly non-partisan organization. As a matter of fact the Vice Chairman of the Lake County Democratic organization is a member of the City Club.
It was he who interceded on behalf of the club, contacting the Seals campaign and finally getting them to commit after months of having them fail to respond (in any way) to our numerous inquires.
- NoGiftsPlease - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 8:27 pm:
I’m David McSweeney, and “I’m going to reform Congress.” Is he nuts? Does he think we’re ninnies?
- Mehrdad Azemun - Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:06 pm:
Related to this, Kirk just sent out an anti-immigrant mailer–people can see all of the anti-immigrant mailers and TV ads at http://www.icirr.org/stories/antiimmigrant.htm