Letters to the Editor
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That's coattails, baby!
An early demonstration of what Obama can do for down-ticket candidates in the fall. Plus, Obama just picked up another superdelegate!
What monstrously good news! Period! (Hussein...)
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If you're a Democrat in a Repub district
call your congressperson's office monday, and say, "Remember IL-14. Remember Foster. We're coming for YOU in November."
This election is HUGE. This result is AMAZING. This is a BIG DEAL.
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Super Delegates
This could be a interesting element in the super delegate situation. The ability for Obama to help get other democrats down the ballot elected is a something most super delegates are likely to keep in mind.
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I grew up in that district
I never understood why it was represented by a republican. There are a couple of large, urban, and very blue collar areas in the district, and a lot of immigrants. I always thought it had a lot of possibilities for moderate democrat.
The reason this remained Republican for so long is that the Democrats stopped fighting for it.
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good news!
thank you for carrying the foster victory over oberweis story. i think it is very good news for progressive democrats and has very positive implications for the upcoming '08 presidential elections.
interestingly i check slate's site to see what they had on the subject. answer: nothing. who runs that place? mickey kaus?
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2 other districts
IL-10 - I grew up there. It is now being contested by Dan Seals (a Barack Obama look-alike, light black guy, young family) vs Mark Kirk. Kirk has got to be sweatin' - he beat Seals by 53-47 in 2006, but this should energize Seals' forces, and bring out the leaners. If Obama is on the ballot, I think this will go D.
IL-18 - Roy LaHood is retiring. This seat looks a LOT like IL-14. Pretty much the same type of district, just not in Chicago suburbs. No incumbent, Dem year - could easily go Dem. The only thing missing is a wack nutjob like Oberweis as the Republican.
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who helps get Democrats get elected to legislative offices
Colorado, Nebraska and Virginnia- each with a Democratic Senator, retiring Republican and carried by Obama. (NM also falls into this category and HRC and Obama tied)
Alaska, MN, Maine and Oregon- all with vulnerable Republican Senators and all won by Obama except for Oregon . (NH also falls into this category where HRC edged Obama).
So the question who helps at the top of the ticket in getting Democrats elected- HRC or Obama?
Bottom line unless Democrats have increased legislative majorities doesn't matter who is in the WH. Does anybody honestly believe that HRC health plan has a snow balls chance in hell of getting passed as long as there are 40 Republicans in the Senate?
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Rock-ribbed?
I think I'd take the "rock-ribbed Republican district" description with a fair seasoning of salt. The only reason Hastert kept the district for so long is because it's almost impossible to kick an incumbent out of office in America. The eastern half of the district is turning blue at a rapid pace thanks to Chicagoans migrating out, making the overall district pretty middle-of-the-road.
While this is a great victory for Democrats (Foster can look forward to an easy walk to victory in 2008 thanks to the aforementioned incumbency perks), I'd hesitate to extrapolate too much from it. Oberweis was a pretty weak candidate to begin with - a more practical, moderate Republican could probably have won. I think it's long been obvious that Democrats are going to gain seats in Congress this fall, so I don't really think this result is particularly surprising or significant.
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Please note
Bush won this district by a comfortable 11 points, so solid Republican is a pretty fair characterization.
And Foster ran strongly on Iraq and didn't hide his opposition to telecom immunity.
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He also helped Donna Edwards get elected in Virginia last month.
No doubt Obama helps out Democrats on the down ticket in Republican leaning districts (particularly in the 2 aforementioned Illinois congressional seats written about in any earlier letter on this thread).
Can Hillary?
The Democratic nomination is going to the convention, and we'll see there what the Super Delegates think (a lot of whom are in the Senate and in the House of Representatives).
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Nope. It was his no-nonsense approach.
I hosted an event for Bill Foster in Hastert's home county a couple of weeks ago. We had two (self-proclaimed) lifelong Republicans in attendance. Both were one-issue voters, who I introduced to Bill before he left for another engagement.
On gun-control, Foster simply stated that he's a believer in the Constitution, and the rights of gun owners. He related a story from his boyhood (having shot at squirrels with his bb-gun as a kid) and stated that he's not currently a gun-owner, but believes it's any American's right to own a firearm so long as we have the proper background checks in place to ensure that another NIU massacre doesn't take place. The voter was satisfied and left with yard signs.
The other voter wanted to know Foster's stand on women's reproductive rights. Once again, no-nonsense, straight to the point; Foster went to the heart of the matter and said it's not his decision to make. Every American should have the right to make their own choice about such personal decisions, that's the issue, and it's been distorted over the years. Another yard sign customer.
Neither of those issues will be found on Foster's website ( http://foster08.com ); his issues were meat and potatoes, and his stand was middle-of-the-road, which always sells well in this district. Democrats DO win here, but they are the ones who have a moderate view, and have results to show their honesty and integrity.
Foster's that kind of candidate, one we need to see more of.
It's also important to understand that Bill's parents both worked for Sen. Paul Douglas, an honest Liberal of great integrity, who was Sen. Paul Simon's example when he said in the 1980s that he was not afraid to call himself a proud Liberal. Foster is cut from the same cloth, and since he's very bright, knows that you can be a Liberal at heart, and bring people to the middle to get things done.
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a lamp post could have beat Oberweiss
This is not saying much. Oberweiss is not well regarded in Illinois--he may as well have been Alan Keyes. Now, think about 52% in the red district.