great news from julie hamos, state senator from north shore.

[mopinko]

julie hamos hangs on to her seat with her claws. her district includes evanston, where she is secure, and the wealthy north shore, where it is heavily thug. now, they are old-time rockefellar types, not fond of the religious right. i have been driving the chicago burbs a lot, and know that there are as many k/e signs up there as b/c. when you factor in both the nerve and the trouble/money it takes to GET a k/e sign here in blue-land, it is clear we are looking at history in the making up there.
so, last night i heard julie speaking, and she said that about every 4th or 5th door that she has knocked on she was told, i have voted republican ALL MY LIFE, but not this time.
she also told about going to a winnetka art gallery, where the owner was a kerry supporter, and decided to distribute yard signs. she invited julie, who hung out, shook hands, etc. when she left, she had several k/e sings with her. she said she was virtually mugged for them. she barely made it to her car with them.
we are making history here, people.

[madrchsod]

1. i was in northern part of oak park and river forest

of the few signs that were out more kerry/edwarda/obama signs than bush. funny i didn`t see any keyes signs....two brand new houses-many million plus-it`s river forest-had kerry signs.

[hedda_foil]

2. Was that a great training session/rally or WHAT, Mo?

Our Evanston E-Day workers filled a large junior high auditorium and we even had OBAMA with us!

BTW, did you lose a button at the school? I found one of them on the ledge outside the auditorium. Should have realized it was done by a DUer!

[mopinko]

4. it was great

but just to show how tired i am, i forgot barack was gonna be there!
don't know where the button came from. might have dropped of my coat or someone else's. they have sold a lot of them at the dpoe office, and i was a lot of them around.

[madrchsod]

3. i think the neo-republicans in this state

pissed off alot of the old guard by selecting keyes and then add in ryan`s sex scandal. these people must view bush as a coarse and vulgar little man..

[mopinko]

5. i think the old guard said

go ahead, make a fool of yourselves, see how weak you really are without the middle, then we can go back to ignoring you.
and yes, they hate bush. see my post in the "incest" thread here.

[jules]

6. "we are making history here, people"

Absolutely! I bartend on Saturday nights and last night this election and it's importance were all people were talking about!

At the end of the night my Winnetka-living, staunch rethug boss was asking a lot of (thoughtful) questions regarding this election (as if some small light had just turned on in his head). A few co-workers and I answered his questions truthfully without jumping on him for his distorted views. He said he's not sure what to do on Tuesday. Quite a change from only a week ago when he would chuckle at and mock any Democrat!


** This is my first post - I can't start a new thread. I wanted to let Chicago DUers know that CAN-TV, cable access channel 19, is airing "Hijacking Catastrophe" at 5PM today. I hope someone will start a new thread to let everyone know...**

http://www.hijackingcatastrophe.org/

I don't think this link will work because I'm new...but that's the addy.

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. Welcome to DU, Jules!!! And thank you

for working hard on the local and nationals! :hi:

[Tweed]

11. Welcome to the DU!

Thanks for the great post!

[Cadfael]

7. The lay of the land in Wheaton

I've lived in Wheaton (or next door in the unincorporated area) for 20 years now. I've been a (D) election judge for 16 of them. In the first primary I worked we had 7 Democratic ballots requested - 3 of which were me and my family. The number has steadily increased each election. Last primary there were about 100. I attribute a lot of that to migration of more liberals/progressives to the suburbs. But a really funny thing happened last primary. People came in who had been voting Republican for as long as I can remember, and asked for a Democratic ballot - saying they were FED UP and weren't going to vote for THAT MAN again. I hope they hold on to their anger and vote against him tomorrow when it really counts. I kind of consider Wheaton to be a microcosm of staunchly red territory in a blue state, and it's amazing how many Kerry-Edwards signs I see these days. The B-C signs outnumber them, but not by the staggering amount that is usual. If they've managed to piss off this much of their base here then who knows what will happen. I am cautiously optimistic.

[chicagojoe]

8. A lot of that in Illinois.

Even the "R's" in most of this state sit in the center. That Keyes character has everyone laughing, except for the one-issue rightwingers.
Kerry will carry Illinois easily (a given).
Obama by 60% minimum.
Keyes will only benefit from straight party voting.
Does anyone think Keyes will pick up votes from pacifist Christians that share other views wit him ? I guess what I'm asking is, will there be voters who go for Kerry and Keyes ?

[Norquist Nemesis]

10. The thing that still appalls me with the Keyes nomination

is that the extreme right-wing Republicans get a poll of their base on the tax-payers dime. :mad: I'm convinced they intentionally picked the most divisive, extreme candidate in order to get numbers of their base. They will have county-by-county data...get accurate number on voter history and see how far they can capitalize the right-wing-extreme pull. They lose?...so what, they knew they were going to against Obama. So they made a conscious choice to see what information they could get out of it...on YOUR dime.

And now that I'm hearing news reports that Keyes says he will stay in Illinois to 'rebuild' the party...give me a break! Make no mistake. The fight is on and don't dismiss this...PLEASE!!!