51 Comments - Downstate GOP Faithless - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:21 pm: Foster’s ad, and I may be off base here, but seems to play into the belief among many of us that when he starts to spend he will hold his seat. He wins the first round of 14th CD ad wars based totally on the professional quality of the ad V. the Hultgren ad up. the x-wife thing is a nice touch too, since I recall that being an issue in his race against JO in 2008 - CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:23 pm: The only thing Rudy knows about crime is that his former Top Cop was a major kink and Rudy tried to get Bushie to make him the head of homeland security. Opps. BTW how many state contracts did NoTaxBill promise Rudi? - OneMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:26 pm: Yeah the only problem is someone can counter with the appearance that he barely lives in the district and isn’t around that much. Also I am fairly sure he got re-married and if I recall his wife works in NY. - OneMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:27 pm: Also he doesn’t have a Saturday special election, Obama’s field force or an ugly republican primary helping him this time…. - The Captain - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:29 pm: Guiliani is the guy who brought us Bernie Kerik, so when Guiliani talks about crime he really knows what he’s talking about. - bored now - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:29 pm: did i miss something? what does rudy giuliani know about the u.s. senate? oh, that’s right. he was the guy who promoted bernie kerik and now has a business with the guy, who’s family connections to the mob are the stuff of legend, and who hid spending for his personal benefit in the budgets of other departments. and that’s someone mark kirk wants to associate with (and use as a validator)? well, no surprise there, given the fact that kirk has his own credibility problems, and he’s always been known as someone who likes to be in the orbit of powerful men. giuliani has no room to talk about alexi giannoulias. none whatsoever. and mark kirk really needs to associate with a better class of people… - ric831 - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:35 pm: Any word on if Foster’s ad is on TV or for web use? I ask because it runs for :46s and there are no required disclaimers for TV. In this toxic environment for a Dem, I’m not sure that I would put a lot of money behind this type of ad… unless he feels that he can blow money on this fluffy ad because Hultgren has no money to take him down. And I believe that One Man is right, Foster remarried to a woman from NY. - downstate hack - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:36 pm: Foster Ad a C+. No real substance, but not bad production. Ad endorsement from your children should be expected. - HiFi - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 1:41 pm: Still amateur hour at the Schilling campaign. As soon as the Google alerts hit, there will be the usual gust of blustery indignation from his supporters, though. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:04 pm: Schilling made a mistake. Hare has made a dozen. Schillings mistake is wishful thinking. Hares response is wishful thinking too. A wash. Only those wanting their taxes higher will care. - dupage dan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:06 pm: As much as I respect Giuliani and am a supporter of Kirk I don’t think his presence here in Illinois helps Kirk’s campaign. He’s not saying anything we haven’t heard before. Does Giuliani have any ties in the state? Move it along, Kirk, there’s nothing to see here. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:07 pm: OK, so I just read the story about Giuliani’s endorsement of Brady. First of all, he has no understanding of Illinois politics, as he indicated a Brady win would be a real blow to Obama as an indication from Obama’s homestate that they don’t like how the country is being run. This gubernatorial election is not about anything national - it’s about the lunacy within our own state. Second, he speaks about national security. Last time I checked, the Governor wasn’t involved in any warmaking or international diplomacy. Further, Giuliani states: “Each area (in government) overspends and has inefficiencies. If you can’t accept that, you’re from Mars.” Well, Mr. Giuliani, you are from Mars and so is Senator Brady. He doesn’t know the first thing about the budget. He doesn’t know that several areas have been cut beyond their capability to continue operations and he also doesn’t seem to know that audits are conducted on state agencies every year. Maybe he should look at those first instead of what it seems to me he is proposing, which is actually spending more money on audits. - Responsa - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:09 pm: What? Foster doesn’t have a loving dog and cat he can throw in there, too? It’s a nice feel- good video about his family to show at a family reunion or on a website, but hardly appropriate or compelling as an enticement to undecided voters in an election situation and year like this one. Misses the mark completely. Vote for me because my family loves me? Campaign dollars will be spent to air this? C-. - Northsider - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:11 pm: Time for a show of hands: Who takes St. Rudy of 9/11 seriously? Anyone? Anyone? I know you’re out there; I can hear you breathing… - Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:12 pm: @VanillaMan: Nobody wants their taxes higher. What people do want is a budget that is back in balance. Those who refuse to acknowledge the need for some sort of increase via taxes must enjoy their time in Fantasyland. I wish I could be there also but I live in the real world. - OneMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:19 pm: Demoralized…. I want someone who if they end up raising my taxes I can trust with them spending it. I think the current crew has demonstrated that is not them… - Responsa - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:20 pm: Yeah, we get that to some folks Rudy is the devil. Chill people. He was here for a fundraiser. I’ve heard that this sort of bringing in outsiders to help raise money thing happens during election years in even the best of campaigns. - Pioneer P. - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:25 pm: There’s a weird phantom laugh in the beginning … You don’t know it’s coming from his son until they pan out later in the ad and show the two of them there together. - Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:32 pm: @OneMan: No argument from me. - Wumpus - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:40 pm: 9u11ani is a big name to bring in funds. People like him. He gave us Kerick, but he also made NYC livable again. - Anon - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:41 pm: ==The only thing Rudy knows about crime is==… …is that he’s a former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted major organized crime cases? …is that crime rates in New York City fell dramatically during his time as Mayor of New York? ==Opps== Oops. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:47 pm: If you want to win an election then tell voters what they want to believe. Schilling did and Hare didnt. The election is too close to get into a big discussion about a CBO. The takeaway is that Schilling wants less of my money. A good thing. A winner. The momentum is with the candidates that want to let you keep your money. Recent polls show this race tied or Schilling ahead. This wont change that. - Adam Smith - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 2:51 pm: Please, let the frothing at the mouth Dems attack Rudy. Imply that the guy who busted the mafia in New York is corrupt or soft on crime? Keep it up. Just reinforces the utter done-deafness that has you down for the count. - dupage dan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:13 pm: As I said before, I have much respect for Giuliani and support Kirk for Senate. Giuliani should do a little homework before spouting off on Illinois politics. I agree he is likely to be a powerful rainmaker for the Illinois GOP and elsewhere, but he hands too much ammo to knowledgeable dems in this state with his rhetoric. Someone give him a Illinois primer, please. - Louis Howe - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:24 pm: It’s all in how Hare frames his response. Schilling says tax cuts for the wealthy won’t cost the US Treasury money is the same silly G W Bush economics that voters won’t find creditable. GW dug the Federal deficit hole we now find ourselves trying to dig out of… - CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:29 pm: We think Schilling should head back the pepperoni pot - Jake from Elwood - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:33 pm: Why is the press trying to belittle Schilling because he runs a pizza place? Most pizzarias are better run operations than the State of Illinois. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:35 pm: Jake, take a breath. Would you trust a pizza shop owner or the CBO on budget numbers? - Ghost - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:36 pm: on the tax breaks for the walthy, all the high earners are complaining about paying an unfair share…but most of the tax breaks in the code, inclding earned incomes, are used by the wealthy. I few to nay of the top earners pay their full tax burden, but I have a compromise. They get the same tax rate, we just remove all dedcutions, credits and tax breaks for those earning over 250k a year…. After all the big wage earners in this campaign all paid 0 in taxes or refused to disclose that they paid 0 in taxes. increasing the tax rate on high earners is really just an attempt to get some tax from them. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:42 pm: Name calling? You would call Hare a what if he was the Republican? Hare ranks near the bottom as a Congresscritter. A pizza pie would do a better job. A pizza guy would naturally top that. A small businessman knows more than an old DC hack about what is impotant to regular people during these tough times. And deliver it all in under 30 minutes or less. - John Galt - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:44 pm: The CBO’s analysis is only as valid as the parameters that are put in front of it. Since it’s non-partisan, it’s required to score the metrics as they are framed by whoever submits the request. If the person submitting the request totally games the scenario (i.e. only submits part of the picture, or a portion of the proposed changes like in the healthcare debate), then the CBO doesn’t have the authority to tell them to jump in a lake. In a nutshell: garbage in; garbage out. It isn’t necessarily the CBO’s fault. One can disagree with the CBO analysis without actually ripping on the CBO itself. - xplorer37 - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:45 pm: The CBO often misses economic points and makes mistakes. It’s hard to be accurate given the constant flux they are put in by changes in government spending. Schilling bcks the Fair Tax concept which is one of the best thought out plans around. In this case I trust Schilling vs the CBO since every time the tax rates have been lowered, revenue to the government has increased. - Jake from Elwood - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:46 pm: I am not sure that I would necessarily trust either. Of course the CBO has more financial and economic firepower at their disposal than any one individual. The CBO is far from infallible and not immune from criticism even from a small businessman. Heck, even Peter Orszag has been recently quoted as favoring the extension of the Bush tax cuts for two more years. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:48 pm: ===Heck, even Peter Orszag has been recently quoted as favoring the extension of the Bush tax cuts for two more years. === He walked that back pretty far… http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0910/Orszag_Column_was_misinterpreted_.html - zatoichi - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:52 pm: Foster is OK. Where is Grandma, the scout troop, and the teams he coached? Must come in round two. Nice ad. Are his kids going to say he is terrible? Not likely. Is he going to be in the trenches to get legislation passed? Must get along with the ex. - Jake from Elwood - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:57 pm: Rich, I didn’t see that. But cannot say I am surprised. In any event, I do not pray at the CBO altar. And the “pizza guy” is as unfair of a politicial characterization as “mob banker” or “porsche owner”. It creates a stigma. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 3:58 pm: Jake, again, take a breath. I didn’t call him a pizza guy. I said he owned a pizzeria/pizza shop. - Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 4:17 pm: RE: Foster, this maddens me as much as his out-of-the-mainstream views: “Last year Bill Foster sold his Batavia home and now rents an apartment in the same town. The Washington Post reports that Foster’s newly married wife, Aesook Byon, is still employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, N.Y. Foster and his wife are rarely seen in IL and it is doubtful that his wife commutes from Batavia to Long Island.” From: http://northwestinsider.net/?p=1236 - CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 4:21 pm: Speaking of Bait & Switch there are reports circulating that St. James Edgar has expressed a wish to endorse NoTaxBill and Daddy’s Little Deduction….That should freshen up the memory cells a little. Now remember all you blind sheep, tea partiers, pizza guys and pizza guy wanna bees; the Bait&Switch occurs when a GOP candidate claims they will never raise taxes and faster than you can “I was misled by … – the previous administration – my staff — my side squeeze — all of the above…. the tax is rolled right into some body cavity. Even St. James The Perfect did it to you. BTW what’s wrong with being a pizza guy? Did he skip on the taxees too? - Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 4:22 pm: I also don’t see any city car stickers on the vehicles in his ad, and there are some stickers missing on the gas pumps that I am accustomed to seeing in Illinois. Furthermore, the snippet of his kids is in the backyard of a house, not an apartment complex. Could it be the ad was filmed in New York? - Tom - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 4:27 pm: the Foster ad can’t be for broadcast…it is 43 seconds long…too long for a :30 too short for a :60. Not the ad I would be doing. Noone gives a hill of beans about what their family thinks…cute isn’t what voters want this cycle. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 4:27 pm: ===it is 43 seconds long=== No, it’s not. The video clip is 43 seconds long. - OneMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 4:42 pm: Cincinnatus — I think some of it was shot in Batavia (the gas station looks like one near the Fox River). Not too far away from the condo/apt. address he has on his stuff with the SBE - Beau Underwood - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 5:30 pm: Bill Foster is a proud resident of the Fox Valley and has lived in the 14th Congressional District for more than 25 years. His opponent moved into the District from Wheaton a few years ago when it was clear that Denny Hastert was contemplating retirement. Bill recently moved from Batavia to Geneva, where he could be closer to the office and often walks to work. Bill’s wife has lived in the Fox Valley area for over 20 years and is currently working in Long Island. Like Bill, she comes back to Illinois every weekend. You know a campaign is failing when they confuse a Congressman with a Jamaican politician or spread rumors that are untrue. If the Hultgren campaign wants to have a debate over the ins and outs of the 14th District, it might want to start with their own candidate who said on 10/04/09 that the 14th District included Ogle County. Here’s the video for your enjoyment, fast forward to the 20:40 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGPEouQL7OQ Thanks, Beau Underwood Foster for Congress - Beau Underwood - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 5:34 pm: Slight correction to my earlier post. Bill currently lives in Batavia. He moved to Batavia from Geneva. Apologies for the confusion. Beau Underwood Bill Foster for Congress - Judgment Day Is On The Way - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 5:48 pm: Well, as a voter in IL-14, there’s no way I even consider voting for Bill Foster. He’s just totally aloof from the district, and attempting to communicate with him or his staff is just a complete waste of time. I’ll take Randy Hultgren any day. He at least talks to us. - OneMan - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 10:03 pm: So Beau was the commercial shot in the district? If he is in Illinois every weekend it shouldn’t be that hard to schedule a debate or two this time around. Also his filings with the SBE show an apt number as part of his address, does he own a home in the district or is he renting? - GeneKent - Tuesday, Sep 14, 10 @ 11:02 pm: Foster’s address is an address of a condominium in Batavia (not apt). According to his website, “Bill’s wife Aesook spent her professional career managing construction and operation of large scientific facilities. After 16 years of research at Fermilab, she worked for the Office of Science in the Department of Energy managing its national program for 5 years. Since 2008, she has been managing construction of the next generation light source facility located in Long Island, NY. Over the last 2 years, she has commuted to Long Island every week while making sure to maximize their time together at home in Batavia.” - Vote Quimby! - Wednesday, Sep 15, 10 @ 2:47 am: ==Slight correction to my earlier post.== LOL - OneMan - Wednesday, Sep 15, 10 @ 8:03 am: Follow the link http://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionInformation/CandNameList.aspx?SearchType=name&ListType=RESULTS%20OF%20SEARCH%20BY%20NAME&ElectionID=29&ElectionType=GE&ElectionDate=11/2/2010&StatusSearchType=Matches&Status=&CanLastNameSearchType=Starts%20with&CanLastName=Foster&OrderBy=Candidate%20Name%20-%20A%20to%20Z It says APT, not Unit…. - Liandro - Wednesday, Sep 15, 10 @ 9:50 am: I rate Bill’s ad a C. It’s great that his family supports him–and it’s great that Hultgren’s family supports Randy. But the Hultgrens do it while walking parades and appearing throughout the district…Bill only seems to come out west for photo ops when his pork is getting doled out. Not that it matters…issues and the economy are killing the incumbents this year, not a lack of love from their own family. And Bill, despite having a seat on the Financial Services Committee (among others), has not been a voice I am proud of in Congress. He refused to come out for town halls or other means of explaining his votes, and all we get are cookie-cutter responses to any emails or questions sent. G’bye Rep. Foster. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.