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Wednesday, April 27, 2005

IL-6: DLCer O'Malley to Challenge Cegelis

Posted by Tim Tagaris

Christine Cegelis will have primary opposition in the race for Henry Hyde's open seat in IL-6. Peter O'Malley, a self-described "moderate" and arbitrator, announced his intentions to run against Cegelis this afternoon.

When I am back home in Illinois, I live about 3 minutes outside of IL-6. In 2004, I cheered heartily for Christine Cegelis and the grassroots machine they constructed while pushing Henry Hyde to the limit. This morning, I spoke with some people from "back home," who were at O'Malley's campaign kick-off. I was surprised to hear Peter's Ol'Boys network appeared to take shot after shot at Christine on a day that should have been about him.

“42% was not good enough; it was a moral victory and we can’t have those” said by Jim Reynolds, Vice Chair of the DuPage County Democratic Party who introduced O’Malley today

Point of fact, Christine actually received 44.2% against Henry Hyde against 2004, a 30 year incumbent. Being as close as I am to the 6th, I also know that Vice Chair Reynolds did nothing to help Christine in 2004. If he did, it might have been a "real" victory, instead of just a "moral" one. But in another ironic twist, the "O'Malley Gang" seems to be set on making electability a campaign issue. O'Malley himself added yesterday:

"Christine has done a tremendous job." But he portrayed himself as better able to win in the Republican congressional district.

Now for the irony: In 2002, O'Malley ran for the DuPage County Board, and came in exactly fourth out of four candidates--receiving 18% of the vote. That's not even a moral victory.

In 2004, he ran for a slot as alternate Party delegate in the 6th Congressional District, the one he is running in now, and got nine percent of the vote, a full 60% behind the winner. So, I am not sure how well that electability argument can be substantiated if and when he is called on it.

But Christine made the case that she offers the best chance for Democrats to take the seat:

"I've already had 18 months of planning, organizing, getting an organization together," she said. "I think I'm the strongest candidate to take this seat."

And with the support of Democracy for America, who named her as a second round Dean Dozen candidate in 2004, I think she is right. Jim Dean (Howard's brother) responded this morning in an online chat when asked about Christine Cegelis:

I will also add that both myself and others intend to keep fighting for those candidates - like Richard and Christine Cegelis - who deserve widespread support and respect within the Democratic Party. Both of these candidates have accomplished a great deal and we do not itend to let that go to waste.

Posted at 05:51 PM in 2006 Elections - House, Illinois | Technorati

Comments

I think the fact that this man, who I heard is something of a self-funder, feels the need to position himself against Christine right from day 1 says a lot about her legitimacy and name recognition.

If this fellow is so "electable" in this district, where was he in 2004? I'm not impressed by the level of courage it takes to declare for an open seat.

May the best candidate win, but I hope this gentleman spends some of his time attacking the Republican agenda as well, because that's the real problem.

Posted by: Steve M at April 27, 2005 07:09 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Tim-
I'm glad that I've got no horse in this race, so I can call this bullshit. I can't believe that the consultocracy is taking the reources generated by the new grassroots and trying to use them to destroy our candidates one-by-one.

I wonder if Stan Matsunaka is planning to run again? Or Richard Romero? They'd better watch their backs.

Posted by: Frontier PAC at April 27, 2005 11:02 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Oh, is it known if anyone is getting DCCC support during the primary? Because, you know, O'Malley is an uninspiring rich white-guy lawyer, which means he more or less perfectly fits their idea of what appeals to voters.

Posted by: Frontier PAC at April 27, 2005 11:08 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment