Getting their act together
Monday, Aug 24, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column takes a look at the Illinois Republicans…
Republicans, as a class, tend to pine for the good ol’ days - mainly, the eras when they were in power.
That’s been especially true in Illinois as the Republicans, uniformly blown out of power by George Ryan’s scandals and George Bush’s leadership style, have tried repeatedly to use the good ol’ days to convince voters that they should be returned to stewardship status. For instance, every chance they get they trot out former Gov. Jim Edgar - one of the few living historical Illinois figures who still represents moderation and good governance in many voters’ minds.
But Edgar wasn’t even at last week’s Republican Day event at the Illinois State Fair. I ran into him earlier in the week, after Wednesday’s rainstorm. He was walking alone through the fairgrounds, heading for his car. He had a horse in a race, but the race was canceled because of the storm so he was leaving.
We chatted for several minutes, mostly off the record at his request. Edgar made it clear that he hasn’t formally endorsed anyone for governor yet, even though most people think he wants state Sen. Kirk Dillard to win. Edgar said that Dillard had a good chance of winning the general election, and Dillard returned the favor the next day by repeating Edgar’s name again and again, everywhere he went.
But Dillard was one of just a few politicians at the fairgrounds last week who wanted to look back in time. Most others tried their best to focus on the future, which now looks brighter to more Republicans than it has in many years.
“I’ve never even met George Ryan,” is one of state Sen. Matt Murphy’s best lines on the gubernatorial campaign trail. Congressman Aaron Schock, the nation’s youngest U.S. House member, delivered the red meat keynote address to the gathered crowd’s delight. At just 28, Schock was 9 years old when Edgar was first elected governor.
There was a hunger at the State Fair which was almost completely lost after Republicans realized late in George Ryan’s term that they were doomed to exile. The Republican Day crowd was the biggest I’ve seen since the 2000 presidential campaign. Dozens of candidates showed up, many coming out of the woodwork to ride that massive energy wave they believe will arrive on Illinois’ shores next year.
The GOP also turned the page on the contentious rein of state party chairman Andy McKenna, who surprised almost everyone by abruptly announcing his resignation before the event. More than a few grumbled that McKenna’s self-centered move had taken attention away from the day’s success, but the party swiftly and almost unanimously voted to name McKenna’s replacement shortly after he resigned. Republican National Committeeman Pat Brady, who’s proved popular with both moderates and many conservatives, was given the helm.
Imagine, a state Republican chairmanship succession that was accomplished without screaming threats of retaliation. Unreal.
McKenna’s unexpected announcement helped overshadow the only other big controversy of the day. Sen. Murphy unveiled a cable TV ad which blasts Sen. Dillard’s tax and spend record and attempts to tie the DuPage County Republican to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and Rod Blagojevich. Dillard’s supporters seemed to be the most furious at McKenna for attempting to focus the day on himself, but McKenna probably did Dillard a big favor by distracting attention away from the Murphy ad.
As noted above, Dillard is the most likely candidate to invoke the state’s past, partly because he was so involved in it. Edgar’s chief of staff, Jim Thompson’s chief legislative liaison. Much of the Old Guard is with Dillard. His event last Wednesday night was jam packed with people from the good ol’ days. But Dillard has also attracted a young, energetic crowd of campaign staff, volunteers and supporters. He’s not totally living in the past.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, members of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee gathered behind closed doors to interview candidates for the slating process. At one point, somebody reportedly voiced a fear that the conference room was bugged.
The Democrats are on the run and the Republicans appear to be getting their act together. But there’s a very long way to go until Election Day, and this still is a Democratic state.
* Related…
* Indiana’s Republican governor offers advice to Illinois GOP “Part of our formula here has always to keep the debate very civil—never personal criticism—and always try to have a better answer,” Daniels told the Tribune. “If Illinois Republicans think they’ll come back simply by putting up a picture of the former governor or lamenting the decline of this or that, then that’s not enough, and they wouldn’t deserve a return to office.”
* Suburban man goes to State Fair, comes away GOP chairman: “Let’s give Mike Madigan a great deal of credit. He’s one of the greatest political operatives this country’s ever seen, but the reality is now and has been for the last six years all about gathering power for Democrats and not serving the citizens of Illinois. Certainly I take a lot of lessons from the way he’s garnered the power but I don’t think the way they run their operation is necessarily in the best interests of the state and we’ve seen that the last six years. We don’t even have a budget. They’ve borrowed us into the next century and they’ve fought with each other. My hat’s off to his political skills, but those skills don’t necessarily translate into the state being run any better.”
* State fair is work for state politicians
* Politicians court voters beyond Chicago
* Bernard Schoenburg: GOP goes on offense at the fair
* Doug Finke: Gene saves the day for GOP: Republican county chairmen (party leaders, not county board leaders) held a meeting and prepared to recite the pledge. Oops. There was no flag in the room for them to face while reciting. What to do? Why, call on a fellow named Gene to come to the rescue. Gene was wearing a shirt decked out in an American flag pattern. He came forward, and the group of assembled Republicans pledged allegiance to his shirt. You have to wonder how conservatives would have reacted had Democrats done the same thing.
* Republican transition
* New Illinois Native Running for Congressman against Schock
* Beth Coulson announcing GOP Illinois 10th C.D. House run
* Kirk to host NW suburbs’ 1st town hall meeting on health care Monday
- Sewanee - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 9:51 am:
Why only mention Murphy and Dillard in the GOP column?
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:01 am:
I agree with Daniels, to the extent that the IL GOP needs to outline its agenda about how it would govern and how its policies would differ.
But they do need to go negative (picking and choosing its spots carefully) simply to remind the voters that the Dems have been in control.
- Shore - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:09 am:
I really don’t see how the old guard is good for the party. On team america’s blog there was a note about how coulson was endorsed by blago in 2006 which should end her candidacy. I’m really not looking for a back to the 1995 future with next year and would prefer Republicans who are actually fresh faces with fresh ideas than people we’ve seen and heard for years just tell us they’ve earned the job as a gold watch for service.
You also missed steinberg in the sun-times begging for the gop to return. Quite a statement from a guy who usually uses the word nut to describe Republicans and hates Mark Kirk.
- CircularFiringSquad - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:11 am:
Nice try, but it will take more than a crowd on the lawn for the rebound
Gags Brady decision to shut up potential candidates confirmed the GOPs are still MOPES
Brady’s praise for Chairman Madigan in the Daily Herald was honest, but his inability tell us how he does a state budget shows the recovery is a long way off.
BTW if you need a QOTD for later in the week how about:
“How the does the party who also rushes to Medicare/Medicaid Managed Care as a budget solution continue to object to big government health care and why does the media ignore it?”
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:11 am:
Proft is interesting, but he doesn’t have a campaign organization or handlers. it appears that he is doing everything himself ( e.g., scheduling, being his own spokesperson etc.), and that’s not a good sign. He seems like a nice guy with some interesting thoughts, though.
I’d be very surprised if he can get anywhere near the required number of petition signatures.
Is Jim Thompson likely to endorse anyone?
I agree with Gov. Daniels, it’s not enough to point fingers without saying what you can do and how you are better. But, the Republicans do have the ability to ask voters how is one-party rule working in Chicago, Cook County and the state for you? I think the Democrats, both Hynes and Quinn, may have a much tougher time attracting voters than they think.
Quinn has considerable baggage, much of which is his own. Hynes has never presided over a crisis and carries the “chicago democratic political royalty” title, farily or unfairly.
2010 will be a very interesting political year. I think that Dillard is probably the GOP’s best and safest bet. He does have experience working in the governor’s office, and his experience is likely of better quality than Quinn’s. And, Dillard knows how things work in Springfield. Quinn, with 30+ years of experience in Illinois politics, should have known, but he didn’t. His lack of knowledge has cost Illinois dearly for years to come.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:12 am:
Sewanee, I get 750 words and there are a billion candidates.
- Shore - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:18 am:
To me Dillard is about moving backward when the party should be moving forward. He’s got 30 years. Good so where’s he been the last 6 with ideas, plans , coalitions, you name it? I’m sure for springfield insiders he’s terrific, but the party’s fallen apart under the watch of the old guard and I don’t see how a reunion is good for anyone in the state or party.
- Just sayin - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:19 am:
If someone from the conservative wing had once got into a fist fight with their incumbent opponent for state’s attorney as Pat Brady once did, we would never hear the end of it from the Illinois media.
I mean that’s beyond Alan Keyes crazy.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:22 am:
I’d love to see the state GOP give the Dem barons some competition. But they’re going to have to resolve this:
–We find the candidacy of Congressman Mark Kirk for this key position on the 2010 November ballot completely unacceptable.–
That’s what the Tom Roeser/Eagle Forum crowd had to say on GOP Day (nice timing). If the GOP wants to come back, their primary voters are going to have to deliver a severe smackdown to that crew.
- Wumpus - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:38 am:
Rich, what are you doing reportong decent things about the GOP? Careful there, people won’t know what to think of your objectiveness.
- Brennan - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 10:48 am:
I think the GOP in Illinois has to start early and often with young people. They cannot afford to do nothing as people from all over the Midwest arrive in Chicago to work and play, maintain mainline Republican positions, and find the ways to give back to the GOP are by boarding the next bus to Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, or the collar counties.
=–We find the candidacy of Congressman Mark Kirk for this key position on the 2010 November ballot completely unacceptable.–=
This sentiment makes recruitment of young voters almost impossible.
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:01 am:
Whose that Kelly guy running for comptroller on the GOP side?
See, i cannot even recall his first name off the top of my head.
The time for going younger and cultivating candidates in order to move the IL GOP forward should have started in 2002, not the summer right before a fast-approaching Feb. primary and Nov. general election.
- Obamarama - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:05 am:
===I think the GOP in Illinois has to start early and often with young people.===
It is becoming increasingly difficult every year to get young people to prescribe to the GOP’s social platform. That is a massive obstacle that they must figure out how to overcome in building their base.
- Brennan - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:22 am:
==It is becoming increasingly difficult every year to get young people to prescribe to the GOP’s social platform.==
I don’t think it is the platform. I think it is in the way it is presented. For example, Roeser/Eagle Forum saying Kirk doesn’t belong on the ballot is just ridiculous. This won’t get your platform anywhere. A newcomer is going to review Kirk and see his proven electoral success in a battleground district and ask why the social conservatives think this means he can’t even seek the GOP nomination for a statewide office. This won’t advance social conservatism and it won’t advance the GOP.
There is social conservatism in Illinois. It’s a long way from anything resembling a majority, but it is certainly an issue that crosses party lines. But can you sell it as a winning formula during a fiscal catastrophe?
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:23 am:
We need two or more healthy political parties in Illinois or we will not survive.
After 30 years of GOP rule, they naturally rotted from the inside out. That is the way is always goes.
So we chose the other party in 2002, and things got worse. Blagojevich? The combination of incompetence and corruption was historic. Now, they have to go after only eight years.
So, the Republicans want another shot? Whatever. Electing Republicans after George Ryan is like being forced to remount a flat tire after the spare implodes. You don’t trust the tire, but we have not choices if we wish to move Illinois out of the ditch the Illinois Democrats knowingly drove us into.
- Levois - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:24 am:
“Meanwhile, in Chicago, members of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee gathered behind closed doors to interview candidates for the slating process. At one point, somebody reportedly voiced a fear that the conference room was bugged.”
Someone either has Rod Blagojevich syndrome or know they’re under the gun from the Feds. Although to be fair, Blago dared them to continue listening in on him.
- Conservative Veteran - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:26 am:
William Kelly is a conservative comptroller candidate who announced his campaign on July 25, in Springfield. He wants to help many conservative candidates, for a variety of races. In 1994, he ran against Rep. Bobby Rush. National Review printed an article, about him, and Rush Limbaugh mentioned him.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:35 am:
–”Meanwhile, in Chicago, members of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee gathered behind closed doors to interview candidates for the slating process. At one point, somebody reportedly voiced a fear that the conference room was bugged.”–
LOL. I would think by now everyone in that crowd would assume the room or someone in it is wired for sound. They should all do a “Sopranos” kiss-and-pat-down before getting down to business.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 11:38 am:
–:We need two or more healthy political parties in Illinois or we will not survive.–
Sounds ominous. Black helicopters? Masons? Tri-lateral Commission?
Fear not — I suspect we’ll muddle through one way or the other. Beautiful weather today.
- raising kane - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:02 pm:
I met that Kelly guy at the fair. Don’t bother remembering his first name….wow was he bad. Actually more pathetic than bad. He just hangs there with a goofy grin on his face and everybody I know who talked to him was creeped out by him. He got virtually no applause when he was introduced. At this point I am guessing he gets crushed by a larger margin than he did running against Bobby “the Panther” Rush.
- steve schnorf - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:31 pm:
All of us who look at the process understand a big piece of the GOP problem. In my party, because of the voter demographics on primary day, candidates are pushed toward staking out primary positions that can hurt them very badly in November.
The successful ones like Edgar stand their ground, let the really conservative opponent get his/her 30%, and focus on what can win in the General.
You are simply not going to win general elections in Illinois for any important office (except perhaps a couple of random seats in Congress, and who’s to say those are important offices)running on a platform of opposition to gay marriage, school prayer/home schooling, opposition to gun control, opposition to abortion in virtually all circumstances, and the other social conservative bugaboos. You can hold those positions and potentially win, but not if the middle 50% of the political spectrum believes that you are running primarily because of those issues. You end up like Keyes. The net effect is to guarantee the Dem, even if they are a slobbering idiot, the November win.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:40 pm:
===You end up like Keyes.===
Or Poshard.
- Obamarama - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 12:53 pm:
===Or Poshard.===
Oberweis anyone?
- Bubs - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 1:15 pm:
The GOP needs a new paradigm in Illinois, no doubt about it. So anyone who clings to the Thompson Edgar Good Old Days like a treed cat should jump.
But the GOP can also forget about the Kiddie Parade (much to the disappointment of some extremely over-ambitious kiddies!) Even kiddies need issues.
The GOP can also forget about the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and Reconstruction. They are about as relevant today as the Haymarket Riot.
Instead, to win the GOP has to present sound positions on the two extremely tough questions people want to hear about:
1. What can we do to boost the Illinois economy and employment situation; and
2. What do we do to get Illinois government on all levels out of this historic fiscal mess?
As far as corruption, voters already know all about it, but they tolerate it because they think the corrupt Democrat Machine is more competent to run things. Destroy that premise and corruption becomes a powerful issue.
In short, the Republicans need a “platform” for 2010 - a real one, not that saccharine-soaked thing they trot out every four years, stuffed with platitudes and social conservative agenda items. A nuts and bolts economic contract with Illinois, if you will, including specifics – “put us in power and here is what we will do to fix things.” It has to be one backed up by research and well-grounded projections, and not a few endorsements from academics and the business community.
I’m not hearing anything like that out of the current GOP legislative leadership. I’m not hearing anything like that out of the gubernatorial candidates.
But there is still plenty of time to do it.
- Rob_N - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 2:18 pm:
Bubs hypothetically asks the GOP to answer:
1. What can we do to boost the Illinois economy and employment situation; and
2. What do we do to get Illinois government on all levels out of this historic fiscal mess?
They’ve already answered that. The GOP wanted to cut the state budget not just to the bone but into the marrow.
After some statehouse rancor the Dems effectively gave them their wish and those drastic cuts are underway.
…Now what?
The systemic fiscal problems still exist but are only going to be made worse by the effect of those cuts and the increasing interest on the ever-growing debt.
- Bubs - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 3:20 pm:
Rob_N,
Are we talking about the same Illinois state budget that has increased operational spending by 30 percent since 2003? “To the marrow,” huh?
This is classic Liberal Democratic thinking!
1. Raise spending.
2. Keep the spending levels high for a few years to institutionalize the the increased budget.
3. When deficits inevitably occur thanks to overspending, cry bloody murder when anyone tries to redress the situation by anything other than tax increases.
4. Get the big tax increase to redress the newly created “deficit”.
5. Return to Step 1.
- Beowulf - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 3:47 pm:
I think that it will come down to Dan Murphy, Bill Brady, and Dan Proft by February. Money will be the primary (no pun intended) consideration in order to get the required name recognition. For Will County Woman: Proft will have no problem getting the needed signatures on his petition. And, an endoresement from Jim Thompson is about as desirable for a Republican gubernatorial candidate as a kiss is from a date who has the herpes simplex virus. Thanks but “no thanks”, Big Jim.
- steve schnorf - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 3:55 pm:
Rich, only if the D runs to the right of the R, which is pretty unusual near the top of the ticket
- Obamarama - Monday, Aug 24, 09 @ 4:00 pm:
===I think that it will come down to Dan Murphy…===
Whoever “Dan Murphy” is, I hope that he has raised more money than Matt Murphy. Also, hopefully he has hired a media consultant to educate him about why it might not be the best use of money to whack ONE of your many primary opponents, without even using his name, before anyone outside the 8th Congressional district knows who you are.