The invisible candidate? *** UPDATED x1 ***
Monday, Jul 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz calls GOP US Senate hopeful Steve Sauerberg the Invisible Man…
But none of it does any good unless someone is listening. And so far, the only one Mr. Sauerberg is giving a run for his money is the invisible man.
Mr. Sauerberg’s name appeared in major Illinois newspapers — all of them, collectively, from Carbondale to Chicago — a grand total of seven times in the months of May and June. One of the seven was in a letter to the editor.
If you have a Crain’s subscription, make sure to read the whole thing. If you don’t, sign up. Sauerberg has more problems than just a spokesman who is based in DC and spends more of his time on other projects than this election, but it’s still a fun read.
* Dick Durbin, meanwhile, hinted that he’s leaning in favor of a Constitutional Convention for Illinois…
“I wouldn’t rule it out. I think we ought to look at it honestly and decide whether there’s anything that needs to be done in our constitution that really addresses some of the problems we’re facing today and really, what breaks some of the gridlock we’ve seen in our state capital.”
* Related…
* 10 Questions for Debbie Halvorson
* We have momentum, Callahan says
* Bernard Schoenburg:18th Congressional District draws high-level attention
*** UPDATE *** Vic Roberts died…
Vic Roberts of Taylorville, a Green Party candidate for Congress, died over the weekend. He was 75.
Marla Washburn, step-daughter of Roberts, said in an e-mail that Roberts died in his sleep on Saturday.
- wordslinger - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:37 am:
Durbin seems to be increasingly flexing his muscles within the state.
Makes sense. His GOP opponent is the Invisible Man. He’s been a big shot in the majority now for a couple of years. Looks like 2008 will see a bigger Dem majority. Early Barack supporter.
If Barack wins and the Dems pick up a few more Senate seats, he will be a real force, nationally and here.
- Ghost - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 10:49 am:
Yeah Durbin definetly seems to b growing his juice here. I have read about Durbin’s name being cricualted as a serious potential senate majority leader. His support of a convention is a bit more intuned with the public then a lot of other politicians seem to currently be.
- Bluefish - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:07 am:
I was at a 4th of July parade in DuPage this weekend with a huge GOP turnout marching for a host of candidates. The only hint that Sauerberg even existed was a sticker on the side of one vehicle (mixed in with other candidates so you actually had to look to see it). No marchers, no stand alone signs, cars, floats, nothing. My only thought is this guy is not even trying.
- Reality - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:24 am:
I agree with Bluefish. I was at parades in Lake Bluff and Deerfield and I did see Sauerberg in Deerfield but he was dwarfed by Congressman Mark Kirk’s supporters as well as supporters local State Rep candidate Tim Stratton and even the McCain supporters. Where were his people?
- Vote Quimby! - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:29 am:
zzzzzzzz…. GOP passes on another Senate seat.
- Cabbage Patch - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 11:36 am:
There’s lot of talk lately about who Blago will appoint to Barack’s Senate seat. But I want to know who the GOP will nominate as a challenger. You’d think they’d be planning ahead for 2010, but I haven’t heard a thing other than Brady running for Gov. Any ideas?
- VanillaMan - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:04 pm:
Durbin is going to be around a long time. Even when he makes mistakes he knows how to cover them up. He is still liked enough to be reelected easily. The GOP has no one with a comparable combination to beat Durbin.
The only thing the GOP can do right now is just save their money for more important races. A US Senate race is not a big deal, but putting money into several Congressional races is better.
In the 11th, we are witnessing a battle between national issues versus state and local issues. Halvorson wants to make this race one about national issues, while Ozinga wants to make this about Halvorson and her record on state and local issues. It is an interesting race between two nice interesting people.
- Vote Quimby! - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:23 pm:
Sorry to hear about Mr. Roberts. While working for a small-time newspaper, I actually met him once and ran his photo — with his coal miner’s helmet — a few times when he was running for US Senate. I didn’t realize he had ‘gone Green’ instead of running in the primaries. RIP, Vic.
- Down in Egypt - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:36 pm:
Ditto to Vote Quimby! concerning Vic Roberts.
I interviewed him back in 2002 when he was running for Congress. He was mainstream in his beliefs at least compared to the average retired UMWA member in Southern Illinois and seemed to be a decent guy who believed that democracy required voters be given a choice between more than one candidate.
- Webgirl - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 12:51 pm:
A look at Dr. Sauerberg’s web site shows he and his staff must have had a pretty busy weekend–nine parades are listed, and “Reality” said he saw the candidate in Deerfield, as well. That’s a lot of parades. What people seem to be forgetting is that this is a very big state, and one man can only be so many places at one time. Also, I receive e-mails from his campaign about once a week, and yet I never see these releases in the newspapers or hear mention of them on the radio. The article points out a legitimate issue: the media fawns all over Dick Durbin but seems content to ignore Dr. Sauerberg, then has the audacity to condemn him for not garnering that attention. The hypocrisy there is unreal.
- Dr. Skeeter - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 1:40 pm:
Webgirl,
Good point. It is a big state, and with the time spent by “Doctor” S defending against lawsuits, he can’t be everywhere.
https://w3.courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/Finddock.asp?DocketKey=CAAG0L0ABCAIA0LD
- Bluefish - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:07 pm:
Webgirl - Not every candidate marched in the parade but at least had supporters in their place. Dr. Sauerberg had nothing, no one, nada, zip representing him.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:08 pm:
How does Durbin want to win?
Does he want to win like he normally does, clean and fair with expressed gratitude towards his opponents, or does he want to be a bad winner by smearing a guy who couldn’t win even if the field was level?
Please keep your vile political nonsense in check. This race will not be close and everyone should express a bit of gratitude to a guy who is little more than a sacrificial lamb for the GOP in 2008.
The reason there is little to no news for Dr. Sauerberg is because no one wants to make it worse for him than it already is.
- Team Sleep - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:29 pm:
This is the problem with Andy McKenna’s “self-funder” ideology. He’s now stuck with a U.S. Senate candidate who doesn’t seem to be trying very hard. If McKenna pulls this crap again in 2010 - and I hope he is gone before then so this doesn’t happen - he will recruit another Sauerberg-esque candidate to run for a statewide office and that will be another laugh-off for the Dems.
- True Observer - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 2:42 pm:
“How does Durbin want to win?
Does he want to win like he normally does, clean and fair…”
Now let’s see-
As a Congressman from a conservative district, he was Pro Life.
When he decided to run statewide, he magically became Pro Choice.
And the lemmings bought it.
- Downstate GOP Faithless - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 5:22 pm:
sauerberg did a parade in my town…him, a car with no signs, and no walkers…had he not come i wouldnt not have noticed, but since he did he looked like a 3rd party candidate at best…my favorite part of the story was that he was in the paper 7 times in however long the period was…of course did anyone actually see those 7? anyone know how many times he has been on tv? i wish i had a couple hundreds to blow on stuff i dont need, much less $1M on a race he was never going to win…WOOHOO!!! and people wonder why the GOP loses supporters left and right
- annon - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 5:56 pm:
Sauerberg …sorry not equipped & schock …I remember telling someone not to discount Callahan as they’re old Democrat, old school & have $$$ & influence availability. I remember Gene Callahan & of course Fran…the county chair from Iroquois Co. Schock…the boy wonder etc. …haven’t seen much of this candidate of late either.
- yawner - Monday, Jul 7, 08 @ 8:37 pm:
The Illinois GOP is dead as a door nail. The old incumbents are too worried about saving their own skins to worry about helping a newbie like Sauerberg, even if their selfish selfs wanted to.
Plus, people like the McKenna family (state gop chairman), that Illinois Combine crowd, have no problem with Durbin. He’s Mr. Clout now, the Illinois-go-to-guy with Denny gone.
As Hinz alluded to, the Illinois GOP just wanted to avoid another Keyes disaster. Beyond that, no one cares, plus they have too many other looming disasters to worry about, most all self-inflicted of course.
Anyone who honestly thinks the Illinois GOP’s senior leadership has any particular problem with Dem incumbents like Daley or Durbin needs to take the next bus back to Pollyannaville.
This U.S. Senate race was over long before it began.