Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. would accept an appointment to the Senate if Barack Obama wins the presidency and leaves Gov. Rod Blagojevich with a vacancy to fill.
“I wouldn’t say no if asked,” said the Illinois Democrat, who serves as a national co-chairman for Obama’s campaign. In the past, he has declined to speculate on Obama Senate succession scenarios.
Gov. Blagojevich is not a huge fan of the congressman, so I’m not sure if this’ll happen.
* Stu Rothenberg reports on a new poll. Republican freshman incumbent Peter Roskam is way ahead of Jill Morgenthaler in the 6th District race….
According to a July 20-22 survey by Public Opinion Strategies for the congressman’s campaign, Roskam leads Democrat Jill Morgenthaler 59 percent to 29 percent in a general election match up. Roskam also appears to be well-liked, enjoying 59 percent favorable to 20 percent unfavorable personal ratings in the survey.
Obama is expected to do very well in the 6th District at the top of the ticket, and is winning it by 8 points, 49 percent to 41 percent, over Sen. John McCain (R). In 2004, President Bush won the district with 53 percent over Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
Last cycle, Roskam won the open seat 51 percent to 49 percent over Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth, in one of the most competitive and most expensive House races in the country. Roskam was an obvious target this cycle because of the closeness of his 2006 race. But Morgenthaler’s candidacy has disappointed. She finished June with $278,000 in the bank, compared to $1.2 million for Roskam.
Very little advertising has been done there, so this isn’t hugely surprising. Roskam’s 59 percent, however, is somewhat surprising considering how tight the race was in ‘06.
And the money is less of a problem if the national Dems jump in with both feet. The lack of any apparent Obama coattails right now also isn’t hugely surprising. If that happens, we’ll see it later.
But, obviously, the best time to win this seat for the Democrats was two years ago, when it was open.
“He just has this confidence that—I don’t know where it comes from or how he maintains it—goes beyond confidence, just outright knowledge that he can make a difference,” says his daughter Trish Oberweis, an associate professor of criminal justice at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
“I don’t believe I would be a normal, average individual legislator,” says Oberweis, who is tall and lumbering, with a slight paunch and a tendency to rap his hand against the table when making a point. “I have a history of making some things happen where people said it was impossible.” […]
It’s unclear whether Oberweis gets discouraged. Patrick Joyce, the executive vice president of Oberweis’s investment firm since 1994, who referred to his former boss as a “visionary,” says, “Maybe a lesser person would’ve stopped . . . but I think his inner desire is so strong that he continues to move forward.” Each of Oberweis’s five children spoke of their father’s unshakable faith in himself, and Oberweis often referenced his entrepreneur’s resilience in bouncing back from blows personal and professional. “Every human being has their breaking point, and I don’t know where that would be for my dad,” Trish Oberweis tells me. “He’s human, so I’m sure it’s out there, but I don’t see it at this point.”
Oberweis resists saying where his breaking point is. The mounting losses and the public sneers do hurt him, Trish Oberweis says, but he seems to view them less as signs than as additional obstacles on his path to inevitable political office. “There was a guy about 130 or 150 years ago who had several losses before he won,” he says. “I can’t quite remember his name, but he went on to become the president of the United States. His first name was Abraham. What was his last name again?”
That’s a bit much.
* I’m really not sure why the Steve Sauerberg US Senate campaign decided to put this video online, but you should definitely take a look anyway, just for snicks…
* Manzullo, GOP Friends, to Keep Talking to Themselves?
* LA Times: In study, evidence of liberal-bias bias - Cable talking heads accuse broadcast networks of liberal bias — but a think tank finds that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Barack Obama than on John McCain in recent weeks.
* DCCC Money Could Tip the Balance in Races at the Wire
* Two events have helped create a minor buzz about Republican Congresscritter Judy Biggert’s reelection chances. First, Biggert’s Democratic opponent Scott Harper raised almost as much as she did in the recent reporting quarter. Then, CQ Politics made a minor adjustment to her ranking…
• Illinois’ 13th (New Rating: Republican Favored. Previous Rating: Safe Republican). Republican Rep. Judy Biggert , who has centrist GOP leanings, has been very politically secure in a mostly Republican-leaning district that includes Naperville, Bolingbrook and other suburbs southwest of Chicago.
But she may need to keep an eye on Democratic businessman Scott Harper, who already has raised more money than 2006 Democratic nominee Joseph Shannon, who won 42 percent of the vote in what was the best showing by a Democrat against Biggert in her five terms. Harper’s campaign is serious enough that he’s attracted contributions from Illinois Sen. Richard J. Durbin and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the political arm of House Democrats, hasn’t included Illinois’ 13th on its lists of highly competitive Republican-held districts, and Biggert still is strongly favored. But this a race to keep an eye on for signs of increased competitiveness.
That last graf is the most important. CQ is just saying that the race might be tighter than first thought.
Republicans are seeking to downplay any talk that Rep. Judy Biggert (R) could be in a competitive race after her opponent outraised her in the second quarter, and they passed around an internal poll Wednesday that showed Biggert way ahead.
The Biggert poll, conducted by American Viewpoint Inc., was done in mid-June and showed the incumbent holding a 55-30 lead, with a job approval rating of 67 percent.
Democrat Scott Harper’s campaign disputed those numbers, citing its own polling data, which it says shows the incumbent’s job approval below 50 percent.
Three things: That Biggert survey is a pretty old poll. However, note that Harper’s campaign didn’t relase the head-to-heads or even “deserves to be reelected” numbers. And, Rod Blagojevich’s job approval was way below 50 in 2006, meaning that this number, in and of itself, is not a great guage.
An American Viewpoint (R) poll; conducted 6/16-17 for Rep. Judy Biggert (R); surveyed 400 LVs; margin of error +/- 4.9% (release, 7/30). Tested: Biggert and businessman Scott Harper (D).
General Election Matchup
J. Biggert 55%
S. Harper 30
Undec 13
Re-Elect Biggert
Re-elect 55%
Someone else 28
Fav/Unfav
J. Biggert 67%/18%
Biggert As Rep.
Approve 67%
Disapprove 19
* Meanwhile, the Sun-Times is playing catch-up to a story that’s been bubbling around the blogs for a while now…
Concrete mogul Marty Ozinga’s companies racked up $59,000 in unpaid taxes over the last 20 years, according to documents provided to the Sun-Times by political operatives.
The tax liens have been filed against the Republican congressional candidate’s companies in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Some are fines on his trucks that pour concrete in Chicago.
The response is a bit weak…
Ozinga’s campaign notes his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Debbie Halvorson was fined $44 after being late on a $910 real estate tax payment for her Springfield condominium. She also was fined $25 for letting a corporation she founded lapse after not using it.
