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Illegal immigrant issue brought up by Sauerberg

Thursday, Feb 7, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sauerberg attacks Durbin right out of the gate…

Dr. Steve Sauerberg, who won Tuesday’s Illinois Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, said Wednesday that Sen. Dick Durbin is out of touch with his constituents. […]

Sauerberg, of Lombard, also said that Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, had his chance to end illegal immigration but instead made it worse.

I know a lot of people like to bloviate about illegal immigration on blogs and on talk radio, but this is from Tuesday’s Illinois GOP exit poll…

Which ONE of these four issues is the most important facing the country?

Category % Total

Illegal immigration 19

The war in Iraq 20

The economy 43

Terrorism 16 -

And…

Should most illegal immigrants working in the United States be:

Category % Total

Offered a chance to apply for citizenship 30

Allowed to stay as temporary workers 25

Deported to the country they came from 43

* So, when it doesn’t even seem to be a dominant issue for Republicans, can it be used in a general election here? Also, remember, there are a whole lot of Latino and other immigrant voters in this state. Tons, even. Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, etc. And many of them know or are related to illegal immigrants.

Please, make sure to read this: I’m really not interested in your own personal opinion of illegal immigration. Try to have a civil debate or your comments will be deleted and you could easily find yourself banned. This topic often brings out the crazy in some people, and I’d rather avoid that today. Thanks.

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Mixed results for Sauerberg push

Friday, Feb 1, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Efforts to get Republican US Senate candidate Steve Sauerberg’s name out there before the primary is meeting with mixed results. The Daily Herald’s endorsement was titled “Sauerberg best of weak choices for Senate” and ends…

Sauerberg is endorsed, unenthusiastically so, on the basis of his sincere desire to want to make things better for Americans as a reform candidate. Best we can do.

* ABC 7 ran a story on the three candidates for the GOP nomination to take on Dick Durbin and played it pretty straight…

Steve Sauerberg is a long-time family physician who’s never run for elected office but believes that works in his favor. He’s won newspaper endorsements and has the backing of the state Republican Central committee.

Andy Martin is an Internet commentator and perennial candidate who believes he has the credibility his opponents lack. He wants to bring high-speed rail to Illinois.

Mike Psak is a truck driver with an MBA from DePaul who believes Washington has too many lawyers and multi-millionaires. He advocates eliminating the nation’s toll ways.

* Unlike the ABC 7 story, today’s Tribune piece goes out of its way to note that Sauerberg is the party’s endorsed guy and trumpet the alarm about the other two, but the reporters get their digs in…

But some Republicans have expressed fears that Sauerberg’s low-volume campaign might not be enough to defeat Andy Martin and Mike Psak, a result that would cast further doubt on the GOP’s relevance in Illinois. […]

“I don’t think I could have covered any more ground than I have,” Sauerberg said. “I don’t think the criticism has been fair. … We have gotten in front of people who we feel were most critical, and we’ve gotten tons of endorsements and we think that should carry us through the primary.”

* And then there’s this…

According to Republican Steve Sauerberg’s disclosure report for the period from October through January 16th, he had not quite $67,000 in his campaign fund.

Durbin, meanwhile, is the Senate majority’s second-highest ranking leader and reported having $7.3 million.

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