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* Sources have said for months that Paul Vallas has reportedly been not so subtly promoting himself behind the scenes for an appointment as Barack Obama’s Secretary of Education. Perhaps that didn’t work out too well…
Chicago’s former schools chief has flunked the education foundation headed by Barack Obama and founded by 1960s terrorist Bill Ayers - saying it failed to monitor projects and funded school “reform” groups that campaigned against boosting academic standards.
“There was a total lack of accountability. If you went back and asked, you’d be hard-pressed to find out how the money was spent,” said Paul Vallas, the city’s school superintendent when Obama chaired the Chicago Annenberg Foundation from 1995 to 1999. […]
“Very little of the money found its way directly into the classroom,” Vallas said.
Most frustrating, Vallas said, was that Annenberg under Obama and Ayers funded groups that fought his mission, under Mayor Richard Daley, to impose uniform standards and stricter accountability in low-performing schools.
Vallas is respected here as a straight shooter, so it’s very possible that his comments had nothing to do with politics. Then again, his brother has been promoting Vallas as a possible Republican candidate for Cook County Board President in 2010.
* First it was the Tribune, then the Daily Herald, then the Rockford Register Star, and now the Bloomington Pantagraph becomes the latest Republican paper to endorse Barack Obama for president…
He has all the qualities to be a great president. It’s up to him.
The end is nigh.
* The Pantagraph also has a new poll that shows Obama with a huge lead here…
The poll of 800 likely Illinois voters gives Obama a decisive 59-35 lead over McCain in a state already assumed to be an Obama stronghold.
Toplines and crosstabs are here.
The only fault I can find with this poll is it shows McCain with a 52-41 lead in the collar counties. Recent congressional and legislative polling in Lake, Will and even DuPage and Kane are showing Obama doing quite well.
* A Daily Kos front pager looks at who might replace Obama in the Senate, but it’s not exactly a solid piece of work.
Among its problems is its claim that Senate President Emil Jones “holds a position of exceptional prominence in Illinois politics,” and that the governor “may also be reluctant to send one of his few friends in Springfield out of the state.” Jones, we all know, is retiring at the end of his term.
* I didn’t hear the conference call, but this article sure makes it sound like Republican congressional hopeful Martin Ozinga III sees the light at the end of the tunnel and suspects it’s a freight train headlamp…
Republican Martin Ozinga sounded a somber note during a conference call with reporters last week as he charted a course for the final days of his congressional campaign.
The Homer Glen concrete company owner and first-time candidate for public office said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is spending overwhelming resources in the 11th Congressional District in an attempt to “financially bury us.”
“That’s the circumstances we find ourselves in,” Ozinga said.
With just a over a week to go before voters in the 11th district head to the polls, Ozinga finds himself down in some polls and behind in money in the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller of Morris.
* Republican incumbent Peter Roskam throws the kitchen sink at his Democratic opponent. She’s a Blagojevich crony, tax-hike lover and doesn’t live in the district…
* An ultra conservative 527 is dumping big bucks into the avowed moderate Republican Mark Kirk’s reelection bid…
A conservative group with ties to the Bush administration has donated about $453,000 for television ads to benefit GOP Rep. Mark Kirk’s tough re-election bid in Chicago’s affluent suburbs.
The ads funded by Freedom’s Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization, accuse Democratic challenger Dan Seals of favoring higher taxes.
Freedom’s Watch has made three major advertising-related expenditures of around $150,000 each since late September and as recently as mid-October, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
One ad says, “Families are hurting, small businesses are struggling, times are tough, that’s why Dan Seals plan for higher taxes is so wrong.”
* Pay raises an issue in Biggert’s reelection bid…
As the race for the 13th Congressional District draws closer to the finish line, Democratic challenger Scott Harper is criticizing Republican incumbent Judy Biggert’s approval of pay raises for members of Congress.
At his Naperville campaign headquarters Friday, Harper, 47, pledged to vote against any Congressional pay raise if elected.
“Judy Biggert has … voted against raising the pay of combat veterans and increasing the minimum wage but voted for giving herself $33,000 in pay increases over the past 10 years,” Harper said in a statement. […]
“She’s never voted for an actual pay raise while in Congress,” Biggert campaign spokesman John Noak said. “All of those were part of larger appropriations bills, for the departments of Treasury, Transportation, and Health and Human Services.”
The cost-of-living increases for Congress ranged from 1.9 percent to 3.4 percent, he said.
posted by Rich Miller
Sunday, Oct 26, 08 @ 3:26 pm
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Odd! Paul Vallas the Republican candidate for Cook County Board Pres. I could never have imagined that.
Comment by Levois Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 9:10 am
McCain needs a healthy stock market run this week.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 9:15 am
Roskam’s ad looks good, I heard the radio version recently on WGN.
Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 9:18 am
I like Paul Vallas. He is the one who got me interested in volunteering. But I am tired of him popping his head out like a whackamole to see if there is some way he can run for something. he shows up every couple election cycles to see what he can run for. I don’t think Vallas running as GOPer is odd, he is moderate enough for the ILGOP to be a perfect fit.
I actually love Oberweis’s new add explaining why he thinks the bailout is bad. If he could have stayed on the meds and maintained that demeanor for all of his runs, he would have been elected something.
Comment by Wumpus Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 9:27 am
The Ozinga thing is interesting.
I thought he would be a strong candidate.
Comment by Skeeter Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 9:44 am
If Paul runs for COunty Bd Pres he won’t have to fly in his campaign ….. might work
Comment by 2ConfusedCrew Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 10:27 am
What are the chances of Vallas actually doing this? I think it’s great for the GOP, but is thing serious?
Comment by scoot Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 10:58 am
it’s good to see that kirk has finally dispensed with the “independent” facade and is acknowledged as a neo-con…
Comment by bored now Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 11:48 am
Rep. Kirk isn’t a neo-con or any other kind of conservative. He’s pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-gun control, pro-spending increases, anti-Iraq surge, and pro-illegal alien. However, he’s better than Seals. Kirk usually votes for tax cuts, but Seals probably wouldn’t do that.
Comment by ConservativeVeteran Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 1:16 pm
bored now thinks Kirk is too far to the right, ConservativeVeteran thinks Kirk is too far to the left - could it be that Kirk is just what he says he is - A moderate.
Comment by 10th Indy Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 2:19 pm
sorry, dude. i don’t think kirk is too far to the right, i think he’s a idiot. he’d actually have to be able to put two thoughts together to be “too far to the right.”
there’s a reason that a right-wing/neo-con outfit is spending big bucks to protect mark kirk and it’s not because he’s a moderate. in fact, you’d be hard pressed to find *any* moderate that they are spending money to protect.
freedom watch is spending money to protect kirk because he’s an intellectual and political lightweight who reliably votes with the (increasingly conservative) republican party.
like i said, he’s an idiot…
Comment by bored now Monday, Oct 27, 08 @ 9:07 pm