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Does anybody know anything about this guy? The Hill’s article says he’s a wealthy young man who makes money investing in turnarounds. He has little political experience (he’s served on the state Republican Party finance committee and is a precinct committeeman), but he’s lusted after by party bosses because he could self-finance. He also appeared to be slightly naive, at least about Durbin, but that seems to be changing…
Businessman Steve Greenberg is weighing whether to challenge Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), or neither in 2008, and he will go public with his decision around May 15, Greenberg told The Hill on Monday.
The young, wealthy political newcomer met with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in Washington last week and said he is now more seriously considering a House bid in one of the GOP’s top targeted districts, Illinois’s 8th. […]
In February, Greenberg expressed interest in running against Durbin. But he said on Monday that his meeting with NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Political Director Terry Carmack altered his perspective. […]
“There are a lot of people who think this state is not Republican, and I think it is,†Greenberg said. “In this state, people have not been proud Reagan Republicans, and we’ve been trying to pander to be what I would call Democrat-lite. I think that’s the absence of leadership in the candidacies.â€
The Hill goes on to claim that Chicago Board of Trade executive Kevin J.P. O’Hara is also interested in running against Durbin, but then stretches creduility by claiming that Sen. Bill Brady and Joe Birkett are also possible candidates. Not. Well, at least for Brady. I also seriously doubt Birkett, who has been touting his chances in the 2010 governor’s race, would like to go 0 for 3 in statewide raes by losing to Durbin.
According to The Hill, President Bush won Bean’s district with 56 percent in the last two elections. On paper, the Republicans count this as one of theirs, but Bean has proved much more resilient than they expected.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** Eric Krol had a story about Greenberg’s possible candidacy back in February…
Greenberg, who turns 36 next month, was an executive with Promotions Unlimited, a Racine, Wis., supplier of merchandise and promotional sale ads to independent drug stores. His father, Ira, founded the company in 1973 in Rosemont and eventually acquired the Ben Franklin variety and craft store franchise rights.
Steve Greenberg, who now invests in turn-around companies, served on the Illinois GOP’s finance committee. He’s also a former minor league hockey player with the Washington Capitals organization.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 8:50 am
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I’m trying to figure out who is nuttier, Greenberg (who apparently thinks the election calendar froze in 1984) or the Republicans who want to go with the rich newcomer route again (remember Jack Ryan?).
Comment by fedup dem Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 9:22 am
I wonder what is it about self funders. Are the state GOP lazy in that they don’t want to raise any money? I’m starting to think a wealthy candidate is vastly overblown.
Comment by Levois Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 9:24 am
Never heard of either one of these people. They are two individuals that Andy McKenna courted to run against Durbin because the state party has zero funds and they can self-finance.
The mention that he’s thinking about running against Bean is interesting. Given that he would have less name ID and less political experience than David McSweeney, the 8th District is probably not the best choice, even though it would be a more “Republican-friendly” area than a statewide race. A name candidate, preferably an existing office holder, would need to run against Bean.
The practice of finding rich white guys has to end for the GOP. I have nothing against them, but when it comes to politics, they don’t have the right temperament. Many own their own businesses and are used to calling the shots. You can’t have a successful campaign when candidate it running it them self.
Plus, the transition from business to politics is a tough one…
Comment by Dieter Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 9:58 am
The ILGOP defintely needs some fresh faces. I know nothing about this guy, but look at the current crop — Birkett, Topinka, Obie, Salvi (pick one), Watson, Syverson, Brady. Losers all.
We need a functioning two party system in Illinois and due to the weakness of the ILGOP, we just don’t have that.
Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 9:59 am
Skeeter, I think Bill Brady can be a good candidate. He needs to tweak his message a bit, though.
What a sad state of affairs. However, what do we expect? Durbin is the #2 guy in the Senate and serves in a now blue state. Hmmm. That poses a HUGE problem for us, and I don’t think McKenna is lazy in that regard. Look at how much cash the GOP raised last year only to come away with none of the constitutional seats. We may have a couple of contentious Congressional and state rep and senate seats, which only compounds our problems. Finding a (cough) sacrificial lamb who doesn’t mind blowing a few million bucks to make a name for himself or herself. Who knows? Maybe Greenberg would be a good candidate when there’s an open seat in a few years.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 10:52 am
Let him spend his money. Durbin will not be beat and Bean would win a race against him too. The Illinois GOP is a mess right now and I agree with Skeeter…. the leadership of the party is mediocre at best.
Comment by Southern Ilinois Democrat Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 10:55 am
Team Sleep:
I agree to an extent about Brady. His problem is that he tends to play to the Bible-thumpers too much. Illinois will accept fiscal conservatives who also have social conservative views (i.e. Fitzgerald) if they play up the fiscal conservative and play down the social conservative. Also, there needs to be a weak opponent (Mosley Braun).
Brady probably could be a force, but he needs to work on the perception. When I think of him, I think of somebody who is going to bar all abortion and is going to mandate that creationism be taught in our schools. Whether or not he holds those extreme views is questionable, but his rhetoric does tend to point that way and perception means everything.
Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 11:06 am
Steve Greenberg is a nice enough guy, but he’s totally green and very gullible.
Andy McKenna’s people are trying to rope him in to play the stooge. It would be incredibly embarrassing to not field a candidate for U.S. Senate. But they don’t have anyone else. Brady? Birkett? That’s a joke. The State GOP just threw those names out there, to make people think there is interest. There isn’t. For one thing, I know Brady would have to give up his State Senate post to run for Senate. (Birkett too I think is up again next yr.) So those guys aren’t giving up those jobs just to get thrashed by Durbin.
I don’t want McKenna’s stooge, I want McKenna. Andy’s been party chair for over 2 yrs now, so I say make him be the one to carry this cross. He says he’s been rebuilding the party, so he should be more willing to run now than when he did in 2004. McKenna’s not willing though, because he knows darn good and well he’s made an even bigger mess of things.
Comment by GOP'er Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 11:33 am
Greenberg and O’Hare are welcome to become the Republican sacrificial lambs by running against Dick Durbin. Given the national trends, it’s not going to be a good year for well-funded neophyte Senate Republican candidates in Illinois!
Bill Brady and Joe Birkett are too conservative for the Chicago metropolitan area to be elected to the US Senate.
Democratic turnout turnout is likely to very high since it’s presidential year - people are really “fired-up” after 8 years of the Bush administration,which appears to be going down in flames.
Comment by Captain America Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 11:42 am
Lord knows the IL GOP could use a turn-around specialist.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 12:13 pm
Bravo, 47th Warder. Bravo!
Comment by Buck Turgidson Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 12:37 pm
I dont know much about this guy, but a young smart candidate that can finance his own campaign could be good for ILGOP particular if he is willing to drop a lot of his own money into. Durbin is going to be very hard to beat and this way the ILGOP could get a candidate that would spend a lot of money getting his message out and the state party can focus on State Senate, House and building up a farm system.
I think that Bill Brady is a good candidate, but I think that he would be served waiting till 2010 and making another run at Governor.
Comment by RMW Stanford Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 12:55 pm
GOP is shopping for chumps who will put up their own money to at least keep the losses respectable.
When things start to go badly for the Republicans in 2008 the money is gonna go toward defending House and Senate incumbents and helping the POTUS candidate (maybe).
Candidates like Greenberg are going to get hammered by the DCCC or DSCC, if the polling suggests it’s even necessary. And there won’t be any re-enforcements for Greenberg.
But I’m sure Republican political consultants will do all they can to encourage Republicans with too much money to part with the excess money.
Note to Republicans: don’t take the advice of people who stand to make money if you decide to run.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 12:57 pm
The will be a GOP candidate against Durbin. Andy Martin is already in the race.
Martin presents some problems for the GOP. He’s a serious enough candidate he can’t be dismissed as just a kook. But he’s outside the GOP mainstream enough that it will get the party off message.
Martin had a chance to run as a serious anti-Iraq War candidate, but he decided to shift to mostly pushing “Obama is a Muslim” and “Obama is a fraud” stories.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 1:01 pm
Brickhead is back!
Best news I have heard all day
Comment by Reddbyrd Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 1:48 pm
Team Sleep - How much did the IL GOP raise last year? You have to be kidding!
If anything, the vast majority of the money in their account was due to transfers in from the RNC for the 6th and 8th Congressional District races.
***
Brady will float his name for the Senate seat, just to keep his name out there for 2010.
Birkett ain’t runnin’ for it.
Comment by Dieter Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 2:29 pm
On other thing.
The IL GOP is probably the only state party organization in the country not to have a finance director.
Now that’s sad…
Comment by Dieter Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 2:30 pm
Well, well, someone’s looking to waste a whole load of money, isn’t he? Nothing is more irritating than people who have too much money deciding that they can go ahead and buy an election. Let this guy run and get his brains beat in.
Comment by Undercover Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 4:33 pm
Skeeter, I can’t believe we agree on something. I am making a mental note of this!
Dieter, I am talking about all of the candidates’ collective efforts as a whole. Look at what JBT, Birkett, Dan Rutherford and Senator Radogno raised and look at what happened. You’re talking about upwards of $10 million with no results. That’s bad. And yes, the 6th and 8th CDs also show an indication of outside help BUT you must remember that Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman felt the need (and perhaps the pressure) to keep Hyde’s seat and take out Bean. And with Denny getting ready to retire and Mark Kirk and Jerry Weller possibly facing tough roads, the NRCC and the RNC will also be hard-pressed to throw money at those seats in 2008.
Again, this is why a self-funder might be the best option. It doesn’t look or sound sexy but sometimes plain yogurt is better than the strawberry-banana crap that’s on sale.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 4:57 pm
If you take a look at the record of GOP Illinois US Senate candidates, you will understand why the vast majority of political watchers don’t consider Illinois much worth the effort to make a run.
Mr. Greenberg can win as well as I could, probably better since he seems to have some money to spend on it, and I don’t.
That said, I would look for a candidate with recent military experience that can put Durbin in his place. The next GOP candidate will have to show voters what a utter sissy Mr. Durbin is, and shame them away from any support. It will be difficult to defeat an opponent without a spine, willing to kiss up and suck up to anyone and capable of morphing into anything to stay politically viable. Whoever the GOP runs against him will have to prove themselves a leader during trying times, that stands for something other than themselves.
That will be very difficult indeed.
Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 4:58 pm
Outside of being self-financed, naive, vain, a “True Believer” and/or deluded by the consulting class just waiting for a pigeon, who in their right mind would volunteer for the suicide squad for a party that has nothing to offer you (e.g. judgeships)after you get slaughtered? Dieter: Thanks for the info about the finance director vacancy. Unbelievable. That says it all.
Comment by Reality Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 7:16 pm
Outside of being self-financed, naive, vain, a “True Believer” and/or deluded by the consulting class just waiting for a pigeon, who in their right mind would volunteer for the suicide squad for a party that has nothing to offer you (e.g. judgeships) after you get slaughtered? Dieter: Thanks for the info about the finance director vacancy. Unbelievable. That says it all.
Comment by Reality Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 7:43 pm
Team Sleep - With all due respect, name the last self-funder to win. Give up? Peter Fitzgerald.
The problem with self-funders are 1.) they all want to go straight to the top, and 2.) they’re sacrificial lambs.
Blago had $20 million, JBT had $6 million. In order to run an effective statewide campaign, you need $10 million PER CANDIDATE, not for the entire ticket.
Chicago TV is expensive…
Comment by Dieter Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 7:50 pm
Greenberg’s a lightweight, and he hasn’t paid his dues. Forget him.
McKenna should be drafted to take on Durbin. It’s time for him to pay the piper for his horrible leadership. Daddy can pony up some cash to prevent an Alan Keyes kind of blow out at least.
Comment by Junior for Senate Wednesday, Apr 25, 07 @ 10:12 pm
VM,
There are a lot of things people can say about Sen. Durbin, but I would never use the terms “sissy” or “spineless.”
If anything, he tends to go too far the other direction, in picking fights that are not necessary and in being the public point man on some issues that are not popular.
Go ahead and call him wrong on the issues if you feel that way. But weak? No way.
Comment by Skeeter Thursday, Apr 26, 07 @ 8:17 am
VM, what about that Air Force officer making noise about running against Tim Johnson? Do you think he’s strong enough to beat Andy Martin in the primary?
And don’t forget you guys have that former POW Air Force General from Rockford. How do you think he’d do against Durbin?
Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Apr 26, 07 @ 8:46 am