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Instead of our regular “Morning shorts” feature, here’s the news feed for the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform’s excellent blog roundup of yesterday’s campaign filings.

Â· UPDATE: OK, here’s one short I couldn’ pass up:

A close confidante of Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. reveals Jackson will only run for mayor if Mayor Richard Daley does not seek re-election. […]

â€He said, â€˜Listen, while everybody’s talking about mayor and everything else, we’re picking off state rep seats. We want to pick off aldermanic seats,â€™â€ Coconate said. â€œHe said, â€˜Now, in November, it’s a possibility. If Daley doesn’t run, I might runâ€¦I am not going to be the guinea pig to run against Daley.â€™â€

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 6:20 am

Comments

Its all about being a VIABLE ALTERNATIVE and Judy is not. I’m a Rod supporter, however I understand the seriousness of the allegations against this administration and the criticism of those who think he is taking the state in the wrong direction, but the opposition did not select a VIABLE ALTERNATIVE in Judy. Remember Judy DID NOT WANT TO RUN she is not a VIABLE ALTERNATIVE. Yes she is the only Republican to hold statewide office bust she lacks the fire in the belly that one needs to take on a seasoned politician like Rod. On paper she is more attractive than Gidwitz, the bigot (yes he is a bigot) Oberweis, Bradley and others, but the one thing she lacks is the fire in the belly, THEY REALLY WANTED THE JOB, she did not. None of the above mentioned had to be talked into running for Governor, SHE DID. If a candidate is talked into running, he or she is not going to do well against a well funded, motivated incumbent who is EXCELLENT on the campaign trail.

I want to believe that money is not everything, but it is an indicator of a candidate’s viability. Let us not forget the GOP is not exactly the party of the working man, its the party of big business. You would think that all of those folks who benefited from George Bush’s tax cuts would have had a few extra bucks to throw at Judy, but sadly they did not. Why is that? Does she not inspire the GOP faithful? If she can’t raise money from those who should she be able to count on how do you think she will do when it comes to getting the votes she needs.

We cannot ignore that Rod’s approval ratings have been very bad, but people still prefer him over her. Why is that? Ask yourself these questions.

Responses to this thread are going to talk about how bad Rod is, but that is not the story today. The story today is how the GOP’s nominee is a not ready for prime time player. I will not deny that Rod is vulnerable, however as long as Judy is the candidate and she continues to run a stealth campaign I feel good about his chances of re-election. I expect to be called moron more than few times today, and told how bad Rod is, but no one will really tell me why Judy is not connecting with the voters.

Comment by wndycty Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 6:42 am
Judy’s not “connecting” with voters because she hasn’t reached out to them. But she’s got almost twice as much money now as Jim Ryan did at this point in the campaign and she has an opponent with clear negatives, giving her plenty of fodder. Sure, she’s behind in the polls, but don’t count this one as over, just yet.

Comment by Time will tell Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 7:03 am
Wyndycty: If you think your preferred candidate has vulnerabilities and questionable practices and you think Ms. Topinka is not wanted, why don’t you vote for a third party candidate? Why corrupt yourself and make yourself open to criticism by supporting a person even you finds lacking in certain leadership qualities. Is it that important to back a supposed winner or is your conscience more important?

Both parties no longer stand for the things they did years ago when it was a clear choice between platforms. They have become one party, with the same problems and sneaky tactics. The only thing different is the symbol and the state color.

Comment by Disgusted Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 7:47 am
State Rep. Larry McKeon (D-Chicago) is retiring at the end of this term. He pulled a Stroger by waiting until after the primary so the Dems could decide who gets his seat.

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 8:44 am
McKeon, Stroger, Tom Dart, Lane Evans, Bill Lipinski … the list is getting longer and longer. Did I miss any?

The Democratic primary nomination appears to be a dying specimen.

Comment by ZC Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 9:23 am
Besides State Rep. Miller, who has Jackson been able to put into office? I don’t think that outside of Jackson’s district his name means a hill of beans for a candidate.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 10:20 am
Anon, there is a long list of people that Jackson helped put into office.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 10:23 am
Rich,

Revisiting yesterday’s question whether or not people are filtering out corruption stories. I read an editorial with an interesting comment in it. Monday’s Trib had a piece by Dennis Byrne in which he refers to Blago as a “jerk”. I can’t believe nobody commented on that. I guess nobody pays attention to anything in print unless it has the words “Raising taxes” in it.

Comment by Buck Flagojevich Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 5:45 pm
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr uses an explicit racist remark against Italian Americans and nobody says something. I guess if it was Jewish and Mel Gibson it is front page. Jackson called a political operative that his head or brain was a bowl of pasta. The meeting was not friendly.

Comment by Paolo Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 6:04 pm
Buck - I think the issue there is that nobody takes seriously anythign Dennis Byrne has to say.

Comment by Like everybody else Tuesday, Aug 1, 06 @ 8:26 pm