You know, it’s very kind of bored now to keep us all in the loop by providing Roundup diaries. Of particular interest to me is the race in IL-14, so of course when I came back for a pit stop between trips today and saw that he had posted an IL-14 Roundup #3 diary, I took the time to scan it.
Hmmm. There seems to be very little going on in the Laesch campaign, to hear bored tell it. Could have sworn I heard about more endorsements recently than those bored now mentions in his coverage of the Laesch campaign, which amounts to this:
john laesch woke up to good news this morning: state senator mike noland has endorsed him.
and this:
booman tribune has an old interview of john laesch that now comes up on google search. his campaign continues its periodic campaign updates here and here. laesch’s former blogger also talks about Podunk,IL vs. the New Chicago Machine, the laesch youtube page covers his simmons appearance (broken into multiple videos and quentin young’s endorsement.
and…
no, I guess that’s about it – all the news bored could find the space or time to bring us about Laesch…
compared to this kind of coverage of Foster:
support for bill foster has been growing on the blogs. this post notes that foster is being called the front runner in the race. i also overlooked the bill foster interview epluribus media conducted at yearlykos. another post looks at foster’s energy proposals
and
foster has benefitted both from his status as a scientist and the recent cutbacks at fermilab (a major employer in the district). his science credentials are finding posts on political and non-political blogs, including Physics and Physicists: Politics & Science, and Open Science Thread: Politics & Science and another Open Science Thread. finally, Nuclear Mangos covered foster. one blogger wants you to know that he contributed to foster because of this. the cutbacks at fermilab have gotten foster mentions in the local press, Fermilab under threat due to federal budget and Federal budge so far not good for Fermilab
and
the foster campaign reports:
Bill Foster has been picking up the endorsements of local leaders in the district, including former Newark Mayor Roger Ness, DeKalb County Board member Robert Rosemier, Kane County Board members Gerald Jones, Bonnie Lee Kunkel, and Rudy Neuberger, and Aldermen Chuck Brown (Geneva), Mike Saville (Aurora), and Jim Volk (Batavia). His message that, as a scientist and businessman, he’s an experienced problem solver ready to address the issues facing our community and our nation and ready to change the ways things are done in Washington, is gaining traction and resonating with voters.
they have numerous events coming up in the next week including activities in winfield township, west dundee and elgin.
Followed by a curt:
the other campaigns did not report anything new for the next week or so.
Hmmm. Guess that means there’s nothing new to report, eh? Well, either that or bored is using that line (in reference to upcoming events on calendars) in an attempt to imply that the Foster campaign is where all the action is.
But really, bored seems to be missing a few details.
Let’s see, right there on the Laesch website I find news of several recent endorsements of Laesch that I can find no direct mention of in any (because I went back and checked them all) of bored now’s IL-14 Round Up diaries, including:
? Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author of “Nickel & Dimed”
? Studs Terkel (yeah, that Studs Terkel)
? nationally-syndicated radio host Mike Malloy
? Valerie Burd, Mayor, Yorkville
? Robin Sutcliff, 3rd Ward Alderman, Yorkville
? Jim Feeley, Vice-Chairman, Kendall County Democratic Party
? Ruth Anne Tobias, Chairperson, DeKalb County Board
? Lynn Schmitz, Executive Committee member, DeKalb County Democratic Party
? Jerry Sheridan, Chairman, Lee County Democratic Party
? Pat Jones, Jr., Treasurer, Lee County Democratic Party
? Karen Nelson, Whiteside County Board
? Tom Nicholson, Chair, Henry County Board
? Tim Wise, Chief of Police, Annawan
Oh, and lots and lots and lots of PCP endorsements.
Then there are some organizational endorsements that seem to have slipped by bored now in his “Roundup,” like, for instance:
? Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organizations
? IL-14 Progressive Democrats of America
? and the Chicago Progressive Democrats of America
? and the national Progressive Democrats of America
? Democratic Action Political Action Committee
? VET PAC
? Northwestern Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council
? International Union of Operating Engineers – Illinois State Branch
? Western Regional Council of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America
? and, of course, John’s own union, Carpenter’s Local 195
At least bored now mentioned John’s AFL-CIO endorsement, in passing.
My personal favorite? Would have to hands-down be the part where bored now tells us about favorable coverage of Foster (written by, not surprisingly, bored now) by providing text links that read like this
“this post notes that foster is being called the front runner in the race,”
while, in the same Roundup, giving us wildly descriptive text-links, like this about Laesch:
his campaign continues its periodic campaign updates here and here
to Laesch campaign blogs, where if you follow the links there you will find coverage in the Chicago Sun-Times, of Dick Simpson (head of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Political Science Department, former Chicago alderman, author, progressive leader and columnist for the Sun-Times, who won his aldermanic race running against a much better financed candidate) predicting Laesch
is now headed to victory in the primary (and the March 14 special election to replace retired Hastert) over Bill Foster, a more conservative political newcomer, scientist and wealthy businessman.
But, of course, we wouldn’t want to go so far as to accuse bored now of spinning his roundup diaries to favor a particular candidate. He does, after all, provide links to things, that link to other things, which in turn cover some of these not-directly-mentioned things.
On the other hand, if I were someone whose foremost intent was comprehensive coverage of the race in IL-14, or for that matter if I were Jotham Stein’s former blogger, I think I’d be taking the time to think through the “fair and balanced” nature of bored now’s “reporting” and “analysis” in his “Roundups” and taking the time to post a few of my own updates. But I’m not, I’m just “Laesch’s former blogger” and current supporter so I’ll stick to Laesch news.
As far as IL-14 goes, my prediction stands: Anyone who is relying on bored now for news and an evenhanded analysis of the race in IL-14 is going to be very, very surprised on February 5.
cross-posted on Fireside14, PrairieStateBlue, MyDD, DailyKos