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This just in… Duckworth gets AFL-CIO nod

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Illinois

The Illinois AFL-CIO just a few minutes ago voted to endorse Tammy Duckworth for Congress. Duckworth is in a three-way Dem primary in the 6th CD.

No endorsement was made in incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean’s congressional race. Bean has angered unions with her support of CAFTA.

More details on other endorsements in tomorrow’s Capitol Fax.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 1:35 pm

Comments

They Will be Going nuts on Daily Kos Tonight

The Webactivists dont’ realize they hurting their cause every time they slam Tammy, the other thing is which I found funny as the Wactivsts are getting as virulent as their friends on the extreme rihgt

“We just dont’ want a Democratic Majority in Congress, We want a Pure Majority”

NEWS FLASH

The One with 218 Votes gets to pick the Speaker

Now if you want to be in the wilderness and have a GOP Speaker, hope for your “Pure Majortiy” If you wish to help control the agenda in the majority party learn to get along….

As they in Springfield, Good Government is 60 votes

Comment by Son of A Sailor Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:03 pm
And once more to all those who proclaim that Cegelis got 44% of the vote in the district in 2004: KERRY GOT 47%!

Comment by Illinois Builder Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:07 pm
Duckworth, although a hero, is a political joke. Obviously Rahm Emanuel pulled strings at AFL-CIO. Besides labor has no clout in Dupage county. Who cares.

Comment by Obama Overrated Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:20 pm
Labor will give her money.

She’s no joke. Go back and watch the c-span interview. She’s saavy. New; but she sounded smart, and if she can hold up she would give Roskam a real run.

Comment by Bill Baar Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:31 pm
I agree with the commented who noted that organized labor’s impact in the 6th Congressional District is not ver significant. While I respect Duckworth for her courage and heroism in the military, I am still of the impression that her candidacy is more a creation of Congressman Emanuel than an effort on her part. Emanuel can grease as many endorsements for her as he likes. In the end, I suspect they will have minimal impact on the voters in the Primary, and should Duckworth prevail on March 21, they will do no good whatsoever in the General Election, as too many Democrats in that district will skip the race in protest of Emanuel’s antics to give her any chance of victory over Peter Roskam.

Comment by Randall Sherman Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:31 pm
Although this is by no means a prediction — I think a “majority” of Democrats couldn’t give a frog’s fat behind about “Emanuel’s antics.” Don’t know about them. Don’t care about them.

Cegelis may well win. She has committed supporters — but their contention that the world of political blogs and the actual world are one in the same is coo-coo. This is a vacuum. That is to say, I doubt 44 percent of 6th CD voters are reading this, or any other blog.

Comment by Anon. Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:36 pm
Wow, Obama, goes from Saviour to Joke in 12 Months

Wow, How Fickle can we be

Also As I said before, when you allege that a woman who lost two legs in the War is a Joke, You really hurt your cause and look very petulant

Comment by Son of A Sailor Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:37 pm
This is another example of the Blog Left not knowing their district, there are a lot of Working class guys in the District, Emmitt McNamara, God rest his Soul would be Spitting Bullets if he heard that…

Take a Look at Elmhurst, Villa Park, Bloomingdale, Roselle, Lombard and the like

You Obviously dont’ know your district, and if you wanna spit in the face of labour there, so be it

Comment by Son of A Sailor Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:39 pm
Don’t forget that if Tammy wins the primary, then Rahm will invest big bucks in this race and paint Roskam as Tom DeLay Jr. The demographics in DuPage are shifting (slowly) in favor of the Dems.

Comment by Bluefish Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 2:47 pm
Good for Tammy. This is another step forward for the Democrats in the 6th CD who want a real chance at actually winning in November. Tammy can win the Primary and she can win the General. The Cegelis fans are mad because Tammy has the support Cegelis wanted? That’s more than silly, that’s sour grapes. Tammy has a clear right to be in this race. Now the campaign will allow for the voters to learn about the candidates and make a choice. That’s how democracy works - get over it and move forward. Besides, since Roskam wants to pick up right where Hyde leaves off, shouldn’t the 6th consider an alternative to the person who lost soundly to Hyde? Bottom line: Tammy is a candidate who can win in the 6th, especially at a time when the last thing Congress needs is another far right wing Delay disciple.

Comment by Rational Man Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 3:29 pm
“DuPate” county may not be the capital of organized labor, but rapid development and a rising Hispanic population is probably changing that. Also, the AFL-CIO may catalyze other progressive organizations to endorsing Duckworth.

Comment by Amy Allen Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 3:33 pm
Any list of their general assembly endorsements?

Comment by Illinois Builder Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 3:53 pm
I’m working on it, IB.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 4:03 pm
Did the AFL-CIO endorse in the Third Appellate District between Lance Peterson and Tom O’Neal?

Comment by Billyclinton Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 4:18 pm
Tammy Duckworth endorsed by AFL-CIO

Rich at Capitol Fax has the scoop: the AFL-CIO just endorsed Tammy Duckworth in the primary race where she’s running against Christine Cegelis and Lindy Scott….

Trackback by tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 5:01 pm
while i agree with son of a gun that it’s desirable to get to pick the speaker of the house, we clearly disagree about how to get there. personally, i don’t see how you win back the house by severely alienating your base. perhaps there are all these democrats out there in hiding or something. rahm thinks you can buy a congressional seat (he did!), and this looks like a very good test to see if democrats want to adopt tom delay’s tactics.

i agree with anon 2:36’s observations that voters neither know of nor care about rahm’s stunts. among the precincts i’ve canvassed, i’ve yet to come across people who are truly engaged by this race — and an overwhelming majority don’t even know about it. i’ve not met a soul while going door to door who knows who tammy is (yet)!

as for irrational man, while i don’t doubt that christine would have liked the afl-cio’s endorsement, i doubt very many of her supporters expect too many endorsements for her in the primary. the manchurian candidate, tammy duckworth, is a machine candidate. like *all* machine candidates, she will pick up the overwhelming majority of endorsements. THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MACHINE CANDIDATE! no sour grapes needed.

most reformers understand that these endorsements always go to the machine candidates, and i hope we’ve learned to live with it. the point is to defeat it. i’ll leave it to people like irrational man to whine about all the grassroots democrats supporting christine enthusiastically!

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 5:08 pm
Good for Duckworth! Looking forward to her match-up with Roskam - although she’ll be a slight underdog, I’ve got my money on the veteran, war-hero…

Thanks for playing, Cegelis.

Comment by Tom DeLay's Mom Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 5:26 pm
I’m sure organized labor gave this one some serious thought. I’m sure they knew Tammy’s position on labor issues.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 6:47 pm
Could anyone tell me Tammy’s position on labor? Has she posted one? I don’t think I’ve heard it. And her fundraising letter sent by her campaign didn’t even have a union bug on it.

Comment by anon Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 7:33 pm
anon 7:33: why would you think it would matter to labor if duckworth’s material had a union bug on it? get real; this is all about power!

Comment by bored now Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 7:40 pm
From an August Cegelis news release:

…the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 558 today threw their support behind the Cegelis for Congress Campaign. The Unionâ€™s financial contribution to the campaign was a significant indication that traditional Democratic supporters clearly believe that Cegelis is the most viable candidate to win the general election in November 2006.

So, when Cegelis’s campaign thought they had organized labor’s support, they screamed it from the rooftops. Now that it’s clear she won’t have labor’s support, they want to downplay it’s significance.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 10:44 pm
Now how is Rahm Emmanuel pro-union again, like when he helped Clinton pass NAFTA or he made 2 million by getting in the middle of a deal and firing hundreds of union workers.
Rahm is a sleaze who has never been on the side of working men and women.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Jan 10, 06 @ 11:48 pm
now, now, yellow dog; you’re just being silly!

as i said above, i’m sure they would have liked the afl-cio endorsement (and screamed that from the rooftops, as you said) — but the reality is that cegelis now faces the very formidible chicago political machine, and the first characteristic of a machine candidate is that they lock up all the endorsements!

you are right in that reform candidates *love* to get endorsements. they are actually grateful for them! but machine candidates not only expect them, they demand them. they are key to their primary political strategy — the perception that they are the only ones who can win. duckworth looks like a machine candidate, acts like a machine candidate, and most of us realize that she is a machine candidate. it’s possible that some of her supporters don’t understand what that means. i’m merely pointing out that their “logic” doesn’t follow.

but, please, don’t let that stop you from whining about it!

Comment by bored now Wednesday, Jan 11, 06 @ 6:55 am
none of the cegalis supporters that i know, myself included, have a bad word to say about tammy duckworth, personally. the question is, what kind of party are we? that is what you decide in the primaries. grassroots dems think that rahm emmauel ought to be out there growing the party instead of stomping on us. with the party behind her, cegalis would win. why aren’t they behind her? why have they manufactured this candidate?
i’m sure there are about a hundred answers to that question, none of them good. i am disappointed that our dccc chair is stomping on a growing local party, in direct contradiction to the type of organizing that our chairman wants. there is a conflict between 2 wings of that party playing out here. there is no doubt that one wing is about the people, and one wing is about the powerful.

whoever wins the primary, tho, good dems will get out here and work for the winner. we do care who is speaker, and who controls the congress. we are grown-ups.
and we know that grassroots take time to grow. netroots, too. don’t knock us. we are changing this party. we are the reason that the dnc is breaking fundraising records without squeezing the fat cats. we are taking our party back, replacing fat checks with giant piles of nickles and dimes. why do you think dean is chairman? the grassroots demanding him, that’s why.

Comment by mopinko Wednesday, Jan 11, 06 @ 8:34 am
There’s been a long nod-and-wink tradition between the insiders of both parties in Illinois, who view the state’s elective offices as something that each should get their slice of. IL-6 was long ago draw as a “safe” GOP district. What rankles some of these blog-driven activists is precisely that, by R.E.’s choosing this battle, the growth of the grass roots in NWSubn Cook County and northeastern DuPage County may have been stunted. There’s fierce fear of domination by Chicago politicians among the independent voters and progressive Democrats in these suburbs.

I’ll be watching a related contest closely: the battle for Elk Grove Twp Dem chair. (Or does somebody know if there was something resolved in last friday’s petition contest hearing?)

Comment by wystler Wednesday, Jan 11, 06 @ 2:18 pm
Mopinko is the sky blue in your world? The RNC is blowing away Howard Dean in fundraising. I think Christine will win the Primary when elections gets near. The fact she lives in the district and her grassroots word of mouth will put her over the top. Labor and AFL-CIO mean nothing in this district folks, many Union members in the area vote GOP anyways.

Comment by ObamaOverrated Wednesday, Jan 11, 06 @ 2:19 pm
AFL-CIO Endorses Democrat Tammy Duckworth in IL 6th Congressional Race - Open House This Weekend

Yesterday Rich Miller had the scoop. Ladda “Tammy” Duckworth had this to say about the endorsement in an email to supporters, “I was extremely gratified to receive the support of these working men and women who keep our economy moving…

Trackback by WurfWhile Wednesday, Jan 11, 06 @ 10:36 pm
Sorry, but few unions will contribute to Tammy. And grassroots sentiment still runs with Cynthia. The big money will be deployed against Melissa Bean. This endorsement will ring hollow in the District - particularly with the Change to Win unions who will not feel any obligation to the State Fed’s ednorsement and with those unions who are still seething over Emanuel’s support for CAFTA.

Comment by Raghailleigh Thursday, Jan 12, 06 @ 2:47 am
Yep. With the withdrawal of the SEIU and other Change to Win unions from national AFL-CIO last summer, an Illinois State AFL-CIO endorsement is not what it once was. - something Emanuel hasn’t quite realised yet. The fed is also under considerable pressure to prioritize knocking Bean out. Pay careful note to how Hispanic voters in the District - who may be affiliated with the SEIU, UNITE and other CTW unions respond to Cegelis vs Duckworth. And who those unions endorse.

As for the vaunted Chicago political machine, the game to play right now - given the scandals confronting ‘da mare’ is: Duck and don’t get none on ya’s.”

Comment by union guy Thursday, Jan 12, 06 @ 4:08 am
it’s really too bad, but i continue to hear the sentiments expressed by pascal within the district. christine has not only been a unifying force in the 6th, but also an organizing force here (which explains her spending). undermining her serves to undermine the efforts by democrats to make gains there…

of course, as yellow dog pointed out (previously), efforts by christine and the reformers to bring democrats together have alienated the old-line democratic establishment in the area. so i guess it cuts both ways. it’s all about power, BABY!

Comment by bored now Thursday, Jan 12, 06 @ 1:37 pm
Did anyone see the forum/debate last night in Bartlett? Tammy looked tired and seemed irritated. The crowd was polite with her but not enthusiastic. Scott and Cegelis both came across better. Scott probably got the loudest applause of the night for his comments on universal health care and the war. The next debate will be this Thursday night in Arlington Heights. I think they will be able to ask each other questions.

Comment by William the Wise Tuesday, Jan 17, 06 @ 5:50 pm
I’ve read all the comments and I wonder how many had really heard Tammy speak. She is wonderful and there is NO comparison between the canidates! Who cares if Chicago money is behind it - as a matter of fact it’s about time they put some money into Dupage! This is and intellgent,brave,strong women who can fight for us in Washington!

Comment by gwen Tuesday, Jan 24, 06 @ 1:27 am
Rahm’s jamming Tammy down DuPage’s throat will undercut efforts to grow the Democratic Party throughout the suburbs and exurbs.
Why should anyone help the Dems in 13th and 14th?
After all, they’re longshots. And, if they do wind up making good runs, isn’t Rahm just going to find someone he likes better and who is “the flavor of the month” in the next cycle to run instead.
One last thing, This is genuinelly an opportunity for Change to Win to show some real backbone and muscle. Its time for Democrats to be Democrats and for unions to stand up for working people instead of the bosses and so-called Democrats who are in fact lackies of big Wall Street interests that back NAFTA and CAFTA while using “Competition from China” as an excuse for every pro-business, pro-financier decision they make.

Comment by duane Friday, Jan 27, 06 @ 5:38 pm