Elections: January 2008 Archives

BY MIKE CETERA

So, who won the Democratic debate Thursday night at Aurora University? It seems bloggers gave the edge to John Laesch. Beacon editors appeared to give Laesch the nod as well.

BY MIKE CETERA

Welcome to the 14th Congressional District Democratic debate. We're here live from Crimi Auditorium on the Campus of Aurora University.

Your candidates are Bill Foster, John Laesch, Joe Serra and Jotham Stein.

Stay tuned here or watch the Web cast over at CBS-2.

BY MIKE CETERA

The Illinois Civil Justice League has a nice Web site set up that gives the rundown on judicial elections throughout the state, including the two new subcircuits created in the 16th Judicial Circuit.

The site includes biographies and responses to the league's questionnaire.

The 1st subcircuit includes Aurora, North Aurora, and the east sides of Batavia and Geneva. The league published a poll of Illinois State Bar Association members, which rated the candidates. The poll, which is sometimes criticized for its limited response, resulted in high marks for three of the five Democrats as well as the lone Republican on the ballot.

The 2nd subcircuit includes the northeast corner of Kane County, including Elgin, South Elgin and Carpentersville. The bar poll was not available on the site.

BY MIKE CETERA

We had a fun time live-blogging from the 14th Congressional District GOP debate last week, so we'll try it again this week when the Democrats square off during a 1-hour debate at Aurora University.

If you can't make the debate at AU, tune in here beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, where we'll be keeping track of the meeting between Bill Foster, John Laesch and Jotham Stein. Join in and add your comments.

In addition, CBS-2 plans to stream the debate live from its Web site. Catch the station's video from the GOP debate here.

BY MIKE CETERA

It's not a scientific poll by any means, but the general consensus among people who participated in our live blog of the 14th Congressional District GOP debate on Tuesday appears to be that Chris Lauzen won.

True, it's hard to say who is being objective and who is simply a supporter determined to get their candidate elected, but the raw numbers in favor of Lauzen appear to suggest something. Beacon News editors also favored Lauzen in this debate. You can read their comments below.

On a personal note, thanks to everyone who participated in this little live-blogging experiment. The response was much larger than I had hoped for. Please come back next Thursday when we try this out again during the Democrats' debate.

BY MIKE CETERA

Welcome to the 14th Congressional District GOP debate. We're here live from Crimi Auditorium on the campus of Aurora University.

Your candidates are Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis.

Stay tuned here or watch the Web cast over at CBS2.

BY MIKE CETERA

We'll be live-blogging from the 14th Congressional District GOP debate Tuesday night, sponsored by The Beacon News and CBS-2.

If you can't make the debate at Aurora University, tune in here beginning at 7 p.m., where we'll be keeping track of the meeting between Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis. Join in and add your comments. We also will blog live during the debate among Democratic candidates on Jan. 24.

In addition, CBS-2 also plans to stream the debates live from its Web site.

In the meantime, check out our videos from the 14th Congressional District endorsement sessions with The Beacon News editorial board. You can find the Republican video here; find the Democrats here.

BY MIKE CETERA

UPDATE: Jan. 11

Here's what I learned during this newspaper's editorial board endorsement session Tuesday with Democrats in the 14th Congressional District: If the Dems are looking for an Obama-like figure here, they may find themselves disappointed.

The session with Bill Foster, John Laesch and Jotham Stein was an exercise in wonk-speak, which isn't necessarily a bad thing when it comes to discussing issues of importance. Indeed, all three men were well armed with facts and figures to support their positions, a noted departure from some past Democratic candidates seeking this office.

Still, none of the candidates appears to possess the charm that is part of the appeal some voters see in Barack Obama. Laesch is the closest in framing his populist message, but he sometimes has a hard time clarifying his positions, while Foster is much more affable and even humorous in relaxed moments than during debates and interviews. Stein talks very fast and can't seem to boil his message down (he insists he has the most detailed platform of any of the candidates), and instead repeatedly refers questioners to his Web site for more details.

BY MIKE CETERA

Here's what I learned during this newspaper's editorial board endorsement session Monday with 14th Congressional District GOP candidates Chris Lauzen and Jim Oberweis: In broad strokes, these two share fairly similar views on the issues of the day.

They both believe the government wastes too much of your money, although neither would offer specific programs to cut (Lauzen did name the $207 million earmarked for the Prairie Parkway as wasteful spending, but said he would like to see the money redirected -- not cut -- toward local road projects).

They both want to increase border protection, although neither would favor attempting large-scale deportation of the illegal immigrants already here (Oberweis, in particular, thinks business regulations meant to discourage hiring illegal workers would result in illegal immigrants leaving on their own).

The both generally support U.S. military policy in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

With so much in common, maybe it's the duo's rhetoric over whether Oberweis is the candidate of clout or whether Lauzen is a do-nothing senator that truly separates the two. As Rich Miller at The Capitol Fax Blog pointed out, the sniping is "going way over the top."

BY MIKE CETERA

With the Iowa caucuses now over, I thought I'd take a look at which candidates are getting donor attention in the Fox Valley. Federal Election Commission records show the big winners locally are Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. None of the other candidates are getting much support, according to the available records.

It's not at all surprising that Romney is getting money here because former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has thrown his support behind the one-time Massachusetts governor. There's also a thriving Mormon population in the Valley.

What's a bit surprising is how little traction Rudy Giuliani has considering Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross is the former New York City mayor's Illinois campaign chairman.

See some of the notable donors below: