Another sign that Democrats are gaining traction in DuPage County is that a Democratic challenger for the solidly red 13th Congressional District is setting fundraising records and drawing the attention of national Democratic party officials for the first time. How good are Democratic Scott Harper's chances against Republican incumbent Judy Biggert in the fall?
A report in Tuesday's Sun states Harper brought in $134,115 this quarter, bringing his total amount raised so far to $247,411, according to the Federal Election Commission. He has $103,464 on hand. Biggert has raised $685,060 in total and has $511,741 on hand, according to the FEC.
Biggert leads in money and has better name recognition. Plus she's a well-liked incumbent untainted by scandal whose 10 years experience puts her in a position to help her district better than a newcomer. Can Harper cash in on the surety that Illinois is a blue state, that Obama or Clinton are sure to bring new Democratic voters to the polls in the 13th District this fall? Does a Democratic have a realistic chance of representing DuPage County in Congress? (the 13th District includes northern Will County, too.)
With all the democrats fleeing from the heavy taxation in Crook county, it is inevitable that democrats will start winning in the formally republican strongholds. This is has been proved by a democrat winning Denny Hastert's seat. It is made even easier by the poor candidates offered up by the republican party. Until republicans offer some fresh candidates with fresh ideas, they will suffer statewide, not just in Dupage county.
I have to say that the Naperville Sun editors need to do more homework before they write. First the 13th includes parts of Cook too. Second, it is missleading at best to say he has "raised" $247k, when in fact he has leant himself over $100k. Amazing how dismissive you are of McCain drawing voters to the polls when he is tied or leading in current polls.
I have to echo Ken's comments but come down more on the side of the Republican Party’s failure to put forward a good candidate as one of the main culprits. Oberwiess (spelling optional)? Please, a librarian could have done better. The guy has too much baggage to win.
Have you ever seen a state with such a dysfunctional political situation (yes, the state Democrats) without a viable challenger (yes, the inept Republicans)?
The Republican Party in this state is a joke. They need to get their act together.
T.B.
I've got to side with T.B. on this one. The problem, more than anything else, is the complete jokers that the Republicans are backing lately. If you're like a lot of people and just try to vote for the lesser of two evils, you'd find yourself writing in Daffy Duck before you'd vote for someone like Oberweis.
What does Judy offer?
* Off ramps
* Increasing the flow of Section 8 families into Dupage County with no monitoring, no real work requirements, no timetable for getting off the new welfare, and no screening for gang affiliations. Simply transplanting gangs and people with a life-long list of defective behaviors to the suburbs will not make them good citizens, hard workers or desirable neighbors.
* President Bush's total dereliction of duty to enforce our borders and immigration laws combined with green lighting millions of completely-unskilled high school drops-outs into the US and Dupage County have alienated the Republican base included in the 75% of the Country that does not want wide-open-borders, AKA cheap labor. Judy continues to support the China trade fiasco which is one facet of Republican “cheap-labor at any cost” policies. As long as Republicans like Bush and McCain believe that the problem with the US is a severe shortage of unskilled high school drop-outs, the Republicans will be on the decline everywhere. Deservedly so.
* Judy is the sponsor of the "anti-discrimination bill for gays".
As a practical matter, how will the public know who is gay so that we can avoid the endless anti-discrimination lawsuits that she wants to enable. Will this become another new form of Federal Government sponsored terrorism and extortion?
- Does she envision a "gay registry" with a rainbow on driver’s licenses that can be produced when applying for jobs, pay raises or housing?
- What will be the criteria for registering as gay, can anybody do it? Do you have to perform at the government office to be certified?
- As a defendant, will you have the right to contest someone's gayness? Will they have to perform for the jury? Or will simply stating that “the reason I did not get the house, the job or the pay raise is because I am gay” will this statement be sufficient to have the court award damages?
- Will employers have to begin tracking their gay employees to prove that they are not discriminating? Will it be a 10% quota, as gay rights groups claim or 1% and shrinking as surveys claim?
- If you have a shortage of gays in your company, will you be able to use H2B Visa program to meet your quota and avoid government sanctions and civil lawsuits?
The story for Republicans in Illinois is one of country club elitist failure. The Democrats are simply picking up the pieces.
Apparently some in DuPage County are gearing up for the "coming of Erkle". Let's see, after Daley, Durbin, Barry Obama, Blago, Emil Jones, etcetera, there is yet talk of another Democrat. Wow, are these people demonstrably the best and brightest politicians we have to consider? Ya know, maybe it's not the politicians that are the dumb ones.
Everyone castigates Oberweis as a bad candidate but no one ever says why that is true. It can't be immigration, the majority agree with his stated policy. Bill Foster is probably a good guy but he has never said anything that warranted his coronation for Pete's sake. Yes, the Republican party of Topinka and, oh my gosh, Alan Keyes, leaves much to be desired but come on.