* SUNDAY, 6:54 pm - Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson has been hospitalized. Sen. Watson, 63, was reportedly experiencing slurred speech and some numbness/weakness last week and checked into the hospital on Friday, where he remains. His condition is being characterized by several sources as a “very minor” stroke. But from what I understand, he is making calls from his hospital room.
The Senate Republicans are notifying their membership as I write this. A press release is promised later. More info when I know more.
* 6:58 pm - From the Senate Republicans…
Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson has been hospitalized. Doctors believe he had a very minor stroke. He expects to make a full recovery.
He has been in communication with his staff all weekend and continues to direct activities — legislative and campaign.
While campaigning in Southern Illinois, Watson began experiencing some noticeable discomfort — leading to his hospital stay. Watson is in good health and expects to make a complete recovery.
Watson spokeswoman Patty Schuh said Sunday evening that Watson has been hospitalized since Friday afternoon in St. Louis. She said he started to feel ill while campaigning for GOP Senate candidate Ken Burzynski of Benton.
Watson represents the state’s 51st district in the southern Illinois city of Greenville. Schuh says doctors consider the stroke “very minor” and Watson is expected to make a full recovery. She said the 63-year-old senator remained in the St. Louis hospital on Sunday evening and was undergoing assessments.
Watson had been on the campaign trail Friday with 59th Senate District candidate Ken Burzynski, R-Benton, when he began noticing something was wrong, Burzynski said Monday.
‘’We were just down here working together, visiting folks, knocking on doors, things like that,'’ Burzynski said. ‘’We could tell something wasn’t just right, so he had it checked out. He didn’t fall or anything.'’
State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, tried to check in on Watson at the hospital Sunday night, but scuttled the visit when he learned Watson was sleeping.
Luechtefeld said Watson is talking, but his speech is slower and ‘’kind of hesitant.'’
‘’There’s no doubt he’s had some effects,'’ Luechtefeld said. […]
It is not clear how long Watson will be hospitalized.
Senator Dave Luechtefeld, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, has visited Watson in the hospital and says he is in good spirits. Luechtefeld says Watson may not be back at the Capitol in time for Veto Session, which is scheduled to start November 12.
* Well that week went by quick. Can’t believe it’s Friday already. I’ll probably post TV ads and time-sensitive updates on the blog this weekend, but I am gonna close comments unless something huge happens. Meanwhile, check Illinoize for updates.
Award-winning writer and editor with more than three decades of experience in competitive Chicago-area market. Extensive background in newspaper reporting, editing and administration… Qualified to handle public relations and corporate communications assignments. Also experienced in catalog and textbook publishing industries.
Get over there and buy an ad. It’s the place to be seen.
* The world as we know it appears to be coming to an end, so let’s all GET UP AND DANCE…
* 3:31 pm - Democrat Debbie Halvorson’s congressional campaign has just released a new poll, which shows her leading Republican Martin Ozinga by 19 points. I’ve asked the Ozinga campaign to provide any recent numbers that they might have. From the executive summary…
* Halvorson leads Ozinga by a 48% to 29% margin, with Green Party candidate Jason Wallace at 5%. Halvorson has built a sizeable 19-point lead, but still needs a few points of expansion in order to win.
* Halvorson more than doubled her lead since mid-September when she led by 8 points (43% Halvorson / 35% Ozinga). Although Ozinga has made substantial investments in cable television and mail, Halvorson’s message about strengthening the middle class and fixing the national healthcare crisis has moved the race in her favor.
* The candidates have similar name identification (63% Halvorson / 59% Ozinga), but Ozinga has a high unfavorable rating that makes it difficult for him to expand his support. More voters are unfavorable towards Ozinga than favorable (27% favorable / 32% unfavorable). Ozinga’s favorable rating is 13 points lower than Halvorson’s and his unfavorable rating is 10 points higher than Halvorson’s (40% favorable / 22% unfavorable).
* Since September, Democrats have gone from a small deficit on the generic ballot (38% Democrat / 40% Republican) to a small advantage (38% Democrat / 36% Republican). Barack Obama has taken a 2-point lead (43% Obama / 41% McCain) after trailing by 5 points in mid-September.
* Details…
Anzalone Liszt Research conducted n=400 live telephone interviews with likely 2008 general election voters in Illinois CD-11. Interviews were conducted between October 10-13, 2008. Respondents were selected at random with interviews apportioned geographically based on expected voter turnout. Expected margin of sampling error is ±4.9% at a 95% confidence level.
…Adding… From the Ozinga campaign…
“So Debbie Halvorson and three liberal special-interest groups spend over $2 million in false and personal smear ads against Marty Ozinga, and she’s still under 50%? Halvorson is clearly vulnerable to a late Ozinga surge once her shameful record of rubber-stamping Blagojevich’s failed agenda sinks in with voters in these final weeks.”
…Adding a thought… Since there are three candidates in the race, Halvorson may not need to hit 50 percent.
Democrat Debbie Halvorson holds a slight lead in fundraising in the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller in Congress.
Halvorson, a Democrat from Crete, reported raising $580,000 between July and October, compared to Republican Martin Ozinga’s $563,000. Green Party candidate Jason Wallace of Normal raised $750. […]
“We think it’s a neck-and-neck race,” Ozinga campaign manager Andy Sere said.
According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Halvorson raised $580,000 between July and Oct. 1, while spending more than $1.2 million.
Halvorson had $274,545 in the bank.
* 4:26 pm - Watch Congresscritter Judy Biggert completely lose her train of thought during a debate yesterday on Chicago Tonight. It ain’t pretty…
She didn’t do too well earlier in the debate, either, appearing, without lots of success, to access talking points in her mind to fit the question…
It’s also notable that later in the event, McCain said the following:
“I don’t want it getting out of this room, but my opponent is an impressive fellow in many ways. Political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. But I’ve had a few glimpses of this man at his best and I admire his great skill, energy and determination. It’s not for nothing, but he’s inspired many folks in his own party and beyond. Senator Obama talks about making history and he’s made quite a bit of it already. There was a time when the mere invitation of an African-American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult. Today is a world away from the cruelty and prideful bigotry of that time - and good riddance. I can’t wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well.”
* Obama…
“There are very few of us who have served this country with the same dedication and honor and distinction as Senator McCain, and I’m glad to be sharing the stage with him tonight.”
*** BREAKING NEWS *** The Chicago Tribune endorses Obama…
This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.
The Tribune in its earliest days took up the abolition of slavery and linked itself to a powerful force for that cause–the Republican Party. The Tribune’s first great leader, Joseph Medill, was a founder of the GOP. The editorial page has been a proponent of conservative principles. It believes that government has to serve people honestly and efficiently.
With that in mind, in 1872 we endorsed Horace Greeley, who ran as an independent against the corrupt administration of Republican President Ulysses S. Grant. (Greeley was later endorsed by the Democrats.) In 1912 we endorsed Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party candidate against Republican President William Howard Taft.
The Tribune’s decisions then were driven by outrage at inept and corrupt business and political leaders.
We see parallels today. […]
When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren’t a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did.
It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all. We are proud to add Barack Obama’s name to Lincoln’s in the list of people the Tribune has endorsed for president of the United States.
There was a 90-minute discussion of the editorial board, which included Tribune publisher Tony Hunter and Tribune editor Gerould Kern. There were passionate, but respectful arguments on both sides. Everyone spoke. There was no shouting. What emerged was a clear consensus of the board in favor of Obama. Hunter, Kern and editorial page editor Bruce Dold agreed on that final decision. Dold wrote the endorsement.
* It’s Friday, so let’s change the subject a bit. Our setup is from Warren Buffett…
A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.
* The Question: What’s your current investment strategy? Explain.
* First things first. If you’re gonna attack a congressman for his military/war voting record, you should probably use a local veteran instead of somebody from Peoria. Then, make sure you vet the vet…
North Shore Democratic congressional candidate Dan Seals’ campaign on Tuesday defended using an Iraq War veteran with ties to the 9/11 conspiracy movement in a new TV ad attacking Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk for supporting the war.
Seals spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said she didn’t “really see what is so controversial” about using Caleb Davis in the ad. Davis, 25, is a Peoria native who spent five months in Iraq as an Army diver and got an honorable discharge in 2004.
Last June, the Peoria Journal Star reported that Davis wore a black T-shirt proclaiming “Investigate 9/ 11@911truth.org” while sitting at a table at a Peoria library where books, fliers and DVDs supporting conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks were on display. The organization argues the government’s version of the terrorist attacks is fraudulent and offers a “Top 40 Reasons to Doubt the Official Story” and an “Official Coverup Guide.”
Kirk, who was in the Pentagon when the airplane crashed into it Sept. 11, 2001, called on Seals to stop airing the ad.
In case you missed it before, the Seals ad is here.
* Kirk sponsored a press conference yesterday attended by several veterans who blasted Seals and his ad…
Local veterans for Kirk countered with 23-year-old Joe Cook of Wauconda, an Army vet who lost a portion of his left leg to a roadside bomb while on patrol. Cook said he was outraged when he saw the ad. He supported Davis’ right to an opinion, but said the statement that Kirk doesn’t support veterans is false.
“When I got injured, Mark Kirk was one of the first people to call my household and asked if there was anything he could do,” he said. “I know enough to know that what he did at the North Chicago VA is something special.
ABC7 could not reach Caleb Davis for comment. He has issued a statement through the Seals campaign saying he believes the 911 attacks were committed by Al Qaeda terrorists, in effect denying that he is a conspiracy theorist.
But why go with an out-of-district spokesperson who has such an iffy past?
It just doesn’t make sense.
Seals says he will not pull the ad. Kirk says his campaign will answer with an ad blitz during the last weeks before the election.
Now it looks like Seals, a Wilmette Democrat has a bit of a cash squeeze for such a tight contest. He reports having had $240,479 on hand on Sept. 30. He raised $660,936 in the last three months – just shy of the $700,000 his campaign claimed he raised in a press release earlier.
From July 1 through Sept. 30, Kirk reported having more than $1.8 million on hand, compared with about $240,000 for Seals. Kirk listed total receipts of $852,000 for the three-month period compared with about $714,000 for Seals. […]
“I would put a little less stock in those (cash on hand) numbers because we’re spending now,” [Seals] said. “The thing to watch is the turnout - how many people are interested.”
According to campaign finance reports provided by the campaigns, Foster has approximately $692,000 in available cash, compared to Oberweis’ $324,000.
Foster’s camp boasted more than $621,000 in contributions between July 1 and Sept. 30, which supporters described as a quarterly record for a Democrat in the district. […]
Oberweis’ quarterly take was bolstered by his $225,000 personal loan to the campaign, while he received a little more than $88,000 in donations, his report states.
…Callahan has raised a total of about $443,600 and has about $53,170 left to spend in the final weeks leading up to the Nov. 4 general election. […]
Republican Aaron Schock raised a total of about $2,303,155 and has about $466,000 left to spend, although he said the bulk of what’s left will be used on television advertisements this month.
Mayor Daley is gutting Chicago’s community policing budget and reducing staff 25 percent — a cost-cutting move that, critics contend, would leave the 15-year-old crime-fighting program “almost dead.”
“Overtime has been taken off the table. Beat officers don’t have to show up. Now, a third of the staff is gone. That is effectively the end of community policing in Chicago at the worst possible time,” said the Rev. Marshall Hatch, chairman of the Leaders Network. Hatch noted that homicides and other violent crime are rising and the trend is almost certain to continue amid “desperation” tied to the economic downturn. […]
Police spokeswoman Monique Bond tried to put the best possible face on the spending cuts, which follow Weis’ Aug. 5 decision to stop paying overtime to police officers to attend monthly beat meetings or community policing functions. “All departments are having to make sacrifices. The reduction of 72 to 54 [employees] is minimal and will be compensated by other staff assignments,” Bond wrote in an e-mail to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“There is no attempt to de-emphasize or minimize any CAPS program. . . . Community policing programs run parallel to crime-fighting strategies.”
Yeah. OK.
* Inadequate police staffing levels, no union contract for the coppers, an alarming crime rate, impending recession with the resultant crime spike, big cuts to community policing, but there’s plenty of money for this…
The Fraternal Order of Police is trying to block CTA President Ron Huberman from hanging on to his police pension, which Huberman claims he’s entitled to because part of his $198,000-a-year mass transit job revolves around security.
* I told subscribers about a new Rasmussen Reports poll earlier this week, but I figured it was time to clue in the blog as well.
Rasmussen asked: How do you rate the way that Rod Blagojevich is performing his role as Governor? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?
Zero percent rated Gov. Blagojevich performance as “excellent.”
Zero.
As we used to say in Germany: “Nix, Nein, Frankenstein.”
Last month, 3 percent rated Blagojevich’s performance as “excellent,” which ain’t much, but it was at least something.
* Here are this month’s Blagojevich job approval results with last month’s in parentheses…
Excellent 0 (3)
Good 4 (9) Fair 29 (28) Poor 65 (60) Not sure 1 (0)
Notice that his “poor” rating has risen from 60 to 65 percent.
Oof.
* The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform’s David Morrison comments over at Illinoize…
A 2000 General Election exit survey I found on-line suggests that 32% Illinois voters held a favorable view of then-Gov. George Ryan, which was after the first two dozen Operation Safe Roads convictions but still nearly three years before he was indicted and four years before his conviction. It would seem that George Ryan was 8 times as popular as Gov. Blagojevich.
The Blagojevich administration still isn’t saying how many people might be affected by an ill-fated health insurance program the governor launched last year.
A day after a Cook County judge ordered the administration to dismantle the FamilyCare expansion program, the administration wouldn’t say how many people might be left in the lurch from the decision.
‘’We are currently reviewing the decision and are determining how many people would be affected, but the governor is committed to making sure that these families continue to get the insurance they need,'’ said Annie Thompson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
It is not clear why the administration hasn’t said how many people are enrolled in the program, which offered state-backed health insurance to people earning 400 percent of the poverty level, or up to $83,000 annually for a family of four.
What a disaster.
* Speaking of disasters, an overwhelming majority of respondents said they were cutting back on their holiday spending, which generally drives the nation’s economy…
* This holiday season, will you spend more or less on gifts than you did last year?
6% More 69% Less 23% About the same
2% Not sure
* More poll results…
* Should the Illinois State Constitution be amended to give voters the opportunity to recall statewide elected officials?
57% Yes 23% No 20% Not sure
* Do you favor or oppose Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic games?
64% Favor 26% Oppose 10% Not sure
* Senate Election
Sauerberg 31% Durbin 62% Other 0%
Not sure 7%
* 2008 Presidential General Election Match-Ups
McCain 39% Obama 56% Other 0%
Not sure 5%
* In terms of how you will vote for President, are you primarily interested in National Security issues such as the War with Iraq and the War on Terror, Economic issues such as jobs and economic growth, Domestic Issues like Social Security and Health Care, Cultural issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, or Fiscal issues such as taxes and government spending?
50% Economic Issues
19% National Security Issues
9% Domestic Issues
8% Cultural Issues
8% Fiscal Issues
6% Not sure
The economy is everything.
Discuss.
[Illinois Survey of 500 Likely Voters Conducted October 13, 2008. Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 4.5%.]
Efforts to alter a question on the Nov. 4 ballot asking voters if Illinois should hold a constitutional convention were blocked Thursday by a state Appellate Court.
The ruling means that the question, which a Cook County judge has ruled was misleading, will remain on the ballot as is. Instead, voters will be handed a notice with a neutral version of the question, though they must cast their votes on a ballot that features the old language.
* Assessor Houlihan: I believe the time has come to exercise this right and call a constitutional convention. For me, two issues dominate. The education and revenue articles of the state constitution need to be changed.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says he’ll end his prohibition on foreclosure evictions Monday now that new language has been added to court orders aimed at protecting renters who are not properly informed their landlord has lost the property.
The Sun-Times reported this week that Cook County judges began using a new court document for foreclosure evictions that specifically names tenants living at the foreclosed property and states how long they are allowed to remain in units — the length of their lease or 120 days, whichever is shorter — before deputies are allowed to haul out their belongings.
After suspending all evictions related to mortgage foreclosures in Cook County, Sheriff Tom Dart announced Thursday that he would resume those evictions starting next Monday.
The reversal comes after a week of discussions with the court officials responsible for handling mortgage foreclosures to create language that would ensure the rights of good-standing tenants in foreclosed buildings.
State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias pledged Thursday to deposit $1 billion more in state money into Illinois banks and credit unions, saying it would help ease the credit crunch and bolster the taxpayers’ return on investments.
The move is designed to help financial institutions loan money in Illinois communities suffering from rising unemployment and the nation’s economic tizzy.
“It’s critical that Illinois take steps now to ease this crisis and get financial institutions lending to local business and consumers again so that this international crisis does not spread to other sectors of the Illinois economy,” Giannoulias said.
