a year ago, i am told, harper sat in a room full of illinois bloggers at yearlykos and started thinking about what he could do to help defeat bush republicans. thursday, scott harper, democratic candidate for il-13, met with a room full of labor leaders to talk about his campaign to defeat judy biggert. it was clear that not only scott, but dreams for throwing out a dupage gop congress, had come a long, long way.
labor leaders representing iam, the carpenters, unite-here, the building trades, ibew and others came to hear scott speak about his race and his take on various labor issues. before the meeting began, scott worked the room vigorously, introducing himself to those he did not know, saying hello to those he did, and engaging everyone in conversation. people talked about the war, biggert’s support of check card legislation, recent democratic and labor meetings, how scott’s fund-raising is going.
scott was given a lengthy introduction by his host from iam. he talked about the importance of grassroots activity and fundraising to winning campaigns. “that’s how we win,” he said simply in his remarks. he talked about judy’s distance from union issues, that she has a 13% support rating on union issues and that “she won’t even talk to us, even local union members.” unions are basically shut out in the biggert office.
scott’s remarks were rather short in comparison. he covered the basics, where he comes from, what he’s done to put together a competitive campaign, how well he did in the february primary, how his fundraising is going, and his recent poll showing that judy is below the all-important 50% re-elect rate.
harper’s campaign plan has some ambitious goals:
* reach 105,000 voters in the 13th
* activate more grassroots volunteers than ever in the 13th
his poll by respected illinois pollster fako and associates found that democrats win the generic ballot test in the district. they found some favorable news after reading scott’s biography/message to respondents, as well. presumably, though, this was a benchmark poll, one designed to help assist in the plan to defeat one’s opponent. obviously, the meat of such a poll would never be disclosed, even to one’s closest supporters.
what seemed to interest the labor leaders, though, was what their locals could do to support scott. that’s why both the introduction and scott’s remarks focused on their grassroots plan to reach out to voters in il-13. one of the questions asked of scott was whether biggert had any visibility in the district among the grassroots. scott replied, no.
scott harper has already been endorsed by:
illinois afl-cio
international association of machinists (iam)
painters union
plumbers and pipefitters
uaw
operating engineers
senator dick durbin
congresswoman jan schakowsky
secretary of state jesse white
lt gov pat quinn
state treasurer alexi giannoulias
tomorrow, we were told, the harper campaign will be host to democratic candidate’s kickoff meeting for volunteers and democratic activists in dupage and will counties. the will county event will meet at Rancho Santa Fe in Bolingbrook at 11 am and the dupage county meeting will be at the Downer’s Grove Public Library at 2:30 pm.
as always, it’s the end of the quarter (i know, because we’ve gotten calls from dan seals, al franken, the dscc and two presidential campaigns), so if you are inclined, i’m sure the harper campaign would love your contribution!