Durbin's calls clinched the AFL-CIO for Duckworth....big meet and greet...

[madfloridian]

outside of the district for her. They really are jumping in with both feet on this one. This is really big time taking over a district by running a candidate from outside the district, and pulling in the big money donors for her. To say, oh best man win in a case like this is not realistic.

Calls behind the scenes to supporters, in fact by one of Cegelis supporters last year....that is how it is done.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sweet/cst-nws-sweet13.html

This afternoon, in a room in the Chicago office of a law firm with a big federal practice in Washington, a "meet and greet'' will be held for Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth. Fresh from the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), one of Duckworth's main sponsors, will attend the reception at Holland & Knight, as he gets increasingly involved in her race.

So why is it worth Duckworth's time to drive in from the suburbs to the Loop for an event where many people invited to attend don't live in the district and won't be asked to write a check?

Because down the line, the people who show up -- the invitees will include reliable Democratic donors -- will be tapped to help out her campaign.

It appears to be more about the money than about what the needs of the district are. Duckworth has never lived there in that district, and she is meeting a lot with people from outside. Same thing is happening all over Florida.

And now for a bright spot. Marcy Kaptur is for Christine. Planning a fundraiser for her.

This local Democratic contest dramatically mirrors the national divisions -- and soul searching -- within the Democratic party. Duckworth, from Hoffman Estates, is the Iraq war vet who lost her legs when a missile hit her helicopter. She is one of about 10 Iraq vets encouraged to run by the national Democratic establishment. Joining the vet squad are 30 or so other Democrats wooed by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) -- who runs the Democratic House political operation -- because of their military or national security experience.

Edited out the paragraph about Kaptur endorsing because I had too many.

I have some problems about the vets running, and especially the ones who are getting helped into the races where viable candidates already exist. I have dialogued through email with a couple of the veteran candidates, especially the ones who like Duckworth....think we can win in Iraq. I am afraid we will just keep getting more quagmired there if too many of the 40 something feel like this. I looked up her stance on this, and appears to be stabilizing Iraq before we leave, and telling the Iraqi people to step up and take charge. Since we destroyed their infrastructure and shut their army and other organizations....since we bombed them to dust in many areas...how can we demand that?

People get mad at me because I don't want military in the white house, and I don't want so many military running for congress. So that is ok, too. It just bothers me.

It also says in the article that the AFL_CIO rep credits Durbin for making calls to get their endorsement for Duckworth.

It also say Max Cleland will be Duckworth's first fundraiser in Feb.

I think I have properly edited now.

[MissWaverly]

1. I like Tammy Duckworth

I wish she was running in Maryland, I don't believe that she is going to haar the
siren call of Halliburton, et al. She knows what the human cost of war is.

[madfloridian]

4. How I feel about her has little to do with it.

I think that the congressional leaders should not be funding candidates in the primary, asking the others to get huge amounts of money just to get attention from them. They are providing money for start-up for Duckworth while demanding Cegelis raised another 100 thousand without their help.

When that makes sense, let me know.

They are doing this all over. They asked one in Florida who won the primary last year to collect a huge amount to be worthy of their support while they are funding a millionaire who used to be a Republican.

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[dogman]

8. If you've seen her interviewed, you know why Durbin was impressed.

Since I work in that District and know a number of people from both Parties, I can see why so many in the State Party support her. IMO she has the best chance of winning the General Election and is well qualified. These Veterans bring a personal history of service and leadership that our Party and Country need.

[madfloridian]

10. Will she have the concerns of the district at heart?

?

[dsc]

14. It isn't like she is from Mars

or from Downstate somewhere. Huffman Estates has to be very close to that district. It is in DuPage County as is the rest of the district. There may well be valid reasons to oppose here but the fact she is currently outside the borders of the district really isn't one of them. This isn't like Keyes moving from MD to run in IL. For the record, I have no horse in this battle. I don't live in the district, I am a little familar with it as I did date a guy from there in college, but that is the extent of my interest.

[dogman]

17. I certainly believe she will.

The city she lives in is split into this District. The Republican suburbs of Chicago are pretty much alike. From the interviews I've seen with her, she is quite knowledgeable. This District includes what is known as the Protestant Vatican. The demographics have been changing and she typifies the change.

[MissWaverly]

21. also I am glad they are helping her

she's earned our support with blood, sweat and tears. I have heard her interviewed and
I am impressed by her.

[madfloridian]

22. Cegelis earned support through two years of campaigning.

It comes down to a matter of perspective sometimes. How many times will the party take candidates who showed that districts were competitive, shove them out the door and put their own choice in.

It is not about the two women, it is about the party choosing our candidates for us.

I will continue to post when I see things like this.

[safi0]

25. Cegelis won't win.

I don't live in the district, but I know a lot of people who do, and I've spent a lot of time their. Cegelis did well in 04 because she ran against a dinosaur who was out of touch. This is a republican district and against the guy whose running in 06 she will lose.

[madfloridian]

26. Glad that is all settled.

She will be glad to know that.

[dogman]

28. That's a little bit of hype too.

Hyde was old and ready to go. Cegelis did not force his retirement as much as some would like to claim. He did see the changing demographics and his age(health) was another factor. They do see a vulnerability as Cegelis points out on her blog. If you go back to the roots of this story you will see there has been a certain amount of disinformation. Emanuel was blamed for pushing her but the published reports say that his support followed her recommendation by Senator Durbin who was deeply impressed with her after a meeting in the Senate chambers. The people will choose the candidate in the Primary. Of course that doesn't guarantee the GOP majority in that District will see the same reasons to vote that the Democratic voters do. Competitive is not enough to get us a Democratic Speaker in the House. I hope the Democrat who can win the Primary is the same person that can win the General Election. The unchallenged GOP candidate is a protege of Rove and DeLay. This is an important race to all of us.

[acmejack]

2. It's the fact that Ceglis built an organization & barely lost last time

Pretty damn unfair on the face of it.

[madrchsod]

3. well this is really nice of the big boys.

this is the biggest issue in the illinois forums and sometimes the debates get a little heated. i have no dog in this fight but i side with the cegelis people on this issue. i have no respect for the national party on this issue and on the deep sixing of zamoria in the last election. i will with hold my true feelings because i don`t wish to be corrected tonight

[dsc]

5. I find one thing here especially ironic

You have continually complained about pro life candidates for Congress yet you are now trumpetting Kaptur's endorsement of your candidate. She is pro life.

http://www.issues2000.org/OH/Marcy_Kaptur.htm

Voted YES on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)
Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)
Voted NO on banning human cloning, including medical research. (Jul 2001)
Voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)
Voted YES on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)
Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
Rated 30% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)

In fairness she may be more of a moderate on this issue than NARAL gives here credit for but they are calling her pro life.

I do find this more than a little ironic.

[madfloridian]

7. Trumpeting?

I was just glad to someone stand up for her.

Please explain how I trumpeted. You are really stretching things on that one.

[dsc]

11. If you don't like the word I withdraw it

but I do wonder how her support fits in with your overall narrative. If this is some evil pro life plot as you seem to have said in other posts, then what is she doing trying to foil it? Or maybe, are pro lifers not the one dimensional charactures you have tried to make them out to be?

[madfloridian]

18. No more arguing with you.

This is about party interference and funding candidates in primaries.

[dsc]

19. Unless, of course, that interference sidelines pro lifers

like it did in RI. Then you have no problem with it at all.

[madfloridian]

20. Aren't you taking what I posted to the very extremes?

I only posted that Kaptur was holding a fundraiser for Cegelis. I know not much about Kaptur, and my point was not about her.

But if you feel better, go ahead. It gets a wee bit nitpicky here sometimes.

[dsc]

23. You are totally missing my point

When Langevin decided, after much pressure, not to run in RI, you had no problem with that at all. In point of fact, you thought it was a good thing. The only problem that I know of you having with him was his pro life record. I don't have a horse in the Illinois district. But I do think people should be consistent. Either interference in these races is a good thing or it isn't. I tend to think that we should let locals sort out primaries on their own but if we can avoid a costly primary that is a good thing. Thus I favor efforts to get one candidate to run and not spend money on primaries in open seats. Failing that, and here that failed, I think locals should vote and the race should stay clean. That also, apparently isn't going to happen. Now the candidates need to be judged on their merits. Currently your candidate has shown a problem with raising money. The other candidate has not taken positions on issues yet. Depending on who fixes what first, the district has a decision to make. May the best woman win.

[John Q. Citizen]

24. I am glad to find out the Kaptur isn't a one issue congresswoman.

Here is a list of Christian Cegelis' endorsements from her 2004 campaign against Hyde. As you can see, Planned Parenthood and The National Organization for Women endorsed Cegelis in 2004. So I'm not too worried about Kuptor's endorsement. In fact, in a district that sent Hyde to congress for what seems like an eternity, Kuptor's endorsement may help send another Democrat to congress. So the irony isn't.



Democratic Party of DuPage County
Schaumburg Area Democratic Organization
York Township Democratic Organization
Milton Township Democratic Organization
Democracy for America
National Women’s Political Caucus
Illinois Federation of Teachers
Senator Richard Durbin
North Central Illinois Labor Council
National Organization for Women
Cook County Democratic Women
Illinois Committee for Honest Government
Women’s Campaign Fund, Planned Parenthood
The Women of DFA
Winfield Township Democratic Organization
Independent Voters of Illinois - Independent Precinct Organization

[dsc]

27. I wasn't saying Kaptur was

but the poster who is touting Cegelis is a one issue poster. She wouldn't vote for Kaptur based on the fact Kaptur is pro life. That is what I found ironic. Unlike that poster I realize that there is more than one issue in an election.

[tishaLA]

6. link?

And the DU rules say that we can copy four paragraphs: "Copyrights: Do not copy-and-paste entire articles onto this discussion forum. When referencing copyrighted work, post a short excerpt (not exceeding 4 paragraphs) with a link back to the original." link

[madfloridian]

9. Oh, my, thank you for letting me know that.

I forgot the link.

Three of the paragraphs are very short sentences. I will look it over, or you can have the mods decide.

There are many other DU rules as well, you know.

[tishaLA]

12. Yes I know there are

but ten paragraphs are not four, even with the chimp counting them.

[madfloridian]

13. Well, friend Tish, I have tried 3 times to edit ....will try again.

Now you watch very carefully to make sure I don't make any mistakes.

I so appreciate the tone. Makes my day.

[madfloridian]

15. Please check and recheck me again.

I am down to 5 I think. So sorry to displease you so much.

[madfloridian]

16. Oops, again. Will go and re-edit all over.

I have an extra paragraph stuck in there, you see. Fixing it now. Again, thanks for keeping me in line so politely.

I now have 4 paragraphs.