Recently in Elections Category

BY MIKE CETERA

I know we're in the middle of a perpetual campaign, but it's a bit early to be comparing Bill Foster's voting record to other members of his party.

That's like saying we know how good a ball player Billy Hatcher is because of his batting average in the World Series. (He owns the MLB record for batting average in a four-game series; Hatcher batted .750. Over his career, he was a .264 hitter). Sorry, gratuitous reference. I've got baseball fever.

Still, the analogy holds. We can't possibly know how Bill Foster is going to vote based on two weeks worth of data.

BY MIKE CETERA

A Time magazine columnist makes the compelling case that journalists should disclose their choices at the ballot box. In The Case for Full Disclosure, James Poniewozik argues journalists should tell readers for whom they vote to "expose the sham of neutrality--which few believe anyway--and compel opinion and news writers alike to prove, story by story, that fairness is possible anyway."

The reasons not to say whom you're voting for boil down mainly to the interests of journalists, not those of readers and viewers. It would be a pain in the neck. Campaign sources would mistrust you. Radio hosts and bloggers would have a field day. Readers would become suspicious.

It's an interesting proposition. Would readers best be served by knowing the writer's political bias?

BY MIKE CETERA

So, Geraldine Ferraro gets roundly criticized because of her remark that Sen. Barack Obama "would not be in this position" if he were a white man.

What if she's right?

"Why is his candidacy historic? Can you give me another reason why it is an historic campaign? Why are we afraid to say this? I am absolutely stunned by this whole thing. I'm not saying he isn't qualified, never did I say that. He is very smart. He has experience issues, but if George Bush can learn to run the country, so can this guy."

Of course, part of the reason Obama's candidacy is historic is because he's an African American who is appealing to a lot of white folks. That's never happened before. So what's wrong with saying it?

BY MIKE CETERA

So, the very first thing Bill Foster does as a congressman is applaud Denny Hastert for his years of service. And the Republican response? Bill Foster wastes no time compromising national security.

The ugliness continues.

BY MIKE CETERA

Did you hear the one about the upstart Democrat who cruised to an unlikely victory only to see his hopes for re-election taken away? Or how about the one about the loyal Republican who was tossed under the bus by his own party?

Jokes? Nightmares? Or just Illinois politics?

9:58 a.m. UPDATE BELOW: Laesch withdraws challenge.

BY MIKE CETERA AND DAVE PARRO

We live-blogged Saturday from the Election Night headquarters of both Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis as the election results came in for the 14th Congressional District special election.

See how the night progressed leading up to Foster's victory and add your comments.

BY MIKE CETERA

OneMan has dissected our endorsement of Bill Foster as no big surprise. To him, in races that involve a "real" Democrat, our editorial board almost without fail chooses the Democrat.

He cites several recent races as evidence.

Their attempt to act like that because they endorsed Hastert in the past that the fact that they endorsed a Democrat is a big deal. In virtually every contested local race (where there is a 'real' democrat running) they endorse the democrat. The first Holmes vs Wintermute race, they endorsed Linda Holmes with out even mentioning that she wrote for them. They endorsed Weisner over Irvin, Chapa LaVia over everyone, I don't think anyone would consider the Beacon a 'Republican' paper. Nice try framing it that way Beacon.

I can just as easily pick examples of when we've chosen a Republican over a "real" Democrat (although there aren't a lot of "real" Democrats who have run in these parts), which I suggest just proves the folly over trying to label the editorial board.

BY MIKE CETERA

With Aurora Alderman Rick Lawrence perhaps poised to launch a mayoral bid, we could see for the second consecutive election cycle a primary for the city's top elected job.

Alderman Stephanie Kifowit has already said she plans to run. And incumbent Mayor Tom Weisner has amassed a large campaign war chest, although he has not announced his intentions. If all three (and maybe more) seek the office, Aurorans will be asked to winnow the field down in a primary early next year.

BY MIKE CETERA

After much eye-rolling and smirking from the candidates, we've just completed our editorial board endorsement session with Bill Foster and Jim Oberweis.

The best line of the day: "Jim, you're just making stuff up." That's Foster after Oberweis tried to tell the editorial board what he thought Foster's position was on immigration reform. It might just as well have been the quote either candidate used throughout the session to describe the other's positions.

This will come as no surprise, but while the primary election was a study in nuanced differences, the special general election is all about the chasm separating Oberweis and Foster on the issues. If you support the concept of universal health care, Foster's your man. If you support the war effort in Iraq, Oberweis is your guy.

BY MIKE CETERA

Bill Foster won't participate in any public forums leading up to next month's special election. The question is, why?

Why shouldn't voters get one more crack at asking questions, or at least hearing Foster respond to questions, in a public forum?

This isn't the first time Foster has been criticized for not attending public debates. His Democratic challengers in the primary, John Laesch and Jotham Stein, took Foster to task for missing repeated forums during that election.

But Foster spokesman Andrew Dupuy said that the campaign tries to aim for the highest audience possible when scheduling public appearances, so that as many voters as possible can be informed about the candidates. He noted that four of the five upcoming appearances would reach wide audiences -- two of them are televised, and two of the editorial board meetings will appear on the Internet.

Foster and Jim Oberweis will appear before The Beacon News editorial board today. We'll have more on that here after their 3 p.m. meeting. But meeting with a bunch of newspaper people is far different than meeting with the voters, even if the editorial board sessions end up as Internet videos (as ours will).