the most important news at this point is that early voting has begun. for those who live in illinois’ 14th congressional district, the ballot positions for the special primary election are:
ballot positions for the regular primary election are:
John Laesch
Jotham Stein
Bill Foster
Joe Serra
the winner of the special primary election should expect lots of support. the dccc put il-14 on it’s first round of red-to-blue races:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the campaign arm of the Democratic Party majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, has announced its initial roster of candidates in a program that will provide them with enhanced fundraising and strategic assistance – most of them for efforts to take over Republican-held seats in this year’s elections.
Candidate to be determined, Illinois’ 14th (North central – Aurora, Elgin, DeKalb). The special election to replace Hastert has been scheduled for March 8, and the parties will select their nominees in primary elections on Feb. 5 – the same day that district voters will cast ballots in the regularly scheduled primary election. The Democratic winner in both contests almost certainly will be Bill Foster, a scientist and businessman who has support from the Democratic hierarchy. Foster is personally wealthy and had early success raising campaign money from other sources, but the Democrats will give him plenty of extra help in the hopes of stealing a generally Republican-leaning district. The Republican field includes state Sen. Chris Lauzen and dairy executive Jim Oberweis, who is Hastert’s preferred candidate.
2004 vote for president: Bush 55 percent, Kerry 44 percent
the dccc won’t be the only democrats rushing in to help foster.
the lawsuit filed by the local election boards has been decided. “A federal judge has approved an abbreviated calendar for a special March general election to fill a vacancy in the 14th Congressional District…. Judge Ruben Castillo set new deadlines for the tasks to be completed to take into account the time between the two elections.” one thing i’m going to be paying attention to is how much differentiation there is between turnout in these two separate elections.
this is endorsement season and bill foster has wrapped up most of the newspaper endorsements. foster got the major chicago paper’s endorsements. the chicago tribune wrote:
Local Democratic leaders, though, seem to be coalescing around Bill Foster of Geneva, a particle physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Here’s a first for an Illinois campaign: Foster is endorsed by 22 Nobel Prize winners. Foster is a strong candidate, and he has our support.
the sun-times advised:
Among Democrats, we endorse retired Fermilab physicist and successful businessman Bill Foster of Geneva. His moderate views fit best with the 14th.
Foster’s physics background would be handy in addressing atomic energy and weapons issues and in defending continued funding of Fermilab and Argonne.
We are wary, though, of Foster’s support of a potentially Big Brother type of national employee verification card. He also favors putting up a real or virtual border wall.
His personal hero — and a man whose commitment he tries to emulate — is his late father, Bill, a law professor who helped write the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
foster also won the endorsements from the kane county chonicle and the dekalb daily chronicle.
the aurora beacon news and the ledger sentinel wrote about john laesch’s endorsement by his hometown mayor, valerie burd.
there’s been plenty of stories about the candidate debates. the telegraph and daily gazette had this write up, and the beacon news had this one, about the debate two weeks ago. more recently, the beacon news (here and here) and the daily herald wrote about this weekend’s debate. in other coverage, the courier news wrote about the candidate’s different approaches to health care, while the daily herald looks at their views on iraq. chicago’s abc station had this piece about the race (although i never got it to play on my computer).
in more candidate-specific articles, the beacon news and the courier news covered jotham stein’s announcement of his economic plan. the daily herald covered bill foster’s reaction to president bush’s visit to chicago while the beacon news covered foster’s increasing concentration on his forthcoming republican opponent. the beacon news also took a tour around the world wide web, looking at the candidate’s websites.
the laesch campaign continues to conduct much of its efforts online. there were campaign updates herehere, here, here, here and here. downtowner adds her perspective here and here. daddy4mak gets excited about pat quinn’s endorsement as does howie klein. he also hails the endorsement from noam chomsky while calling this race the most “important race in the entire country on February 5.” archpundit wonders why laesch wants to get rid of the alternative minimum tax (i guess if the leading candidate supports fiscal responsibility, you may as well come out against it).
live leak had this video of the quinn endorsement. the national pda joined the il-14 and chicago branches in endorsing laesch.
foster has gained more support. bill baar has been faithful in posting mailers from the candidates, including foster’s: here, here and here. foster also has a new television commercial, which can be seen here.
jotham stein has put up a series of youtube videos, on fermilab, buying a seat in congress, and food and health care for every child.
there are still a number of opportunities to hear the candidates. on thursday night, they will participate in the aurora beacon news/cbs 2 debate (which will also be webcast). sunday morning WBBM-AM will air a candidate forum on the “at issue” program. both of these forums provide people numerous chances to compare the candidates on the issues.
the foster campaign reports:
We’re talking to a lot of voters these days, especially with our Aurora field office up and running.
Iraq, of course, is a big issue in the minds of voters, as is frustration with politics-as-usual and squabbling in Washington. However, we’re also seeing an increase in concerns over jobs, the mortgage crisis, and the general state of the economy.
The message remains that Bill Foster’s background as a scientist and a businessman will enable him to confront the challenges facing this district and this country, and change the bickering ways in Washington that prevent anything from getting done.
it adds:
We’re continuing to run a campaign that’s focused on the issues and telling voters about Bill Foster. That stands in stark contrast to the Republican candidates in this race, who seem to be more focused on attacking each other than on talking about issues that matter to voters.
Bill is receiving a lot of organic support from the scientific community, which is excited by the prospect of sending an accomplished physicist to Congress. They recognize how critical that background will be to tackling the tough technological problems – energy independence and health care, for example – America faces.
early voting has begun, and jotham stein and bill foster both have votes. given the popularity of early voting this time, it seems that this race could see a record primary turnout — for both elections. vote twice. it’s your right…