So we knocked out Crane, can we get rid of HYDE in '06?

[Tweed]

Henry Hyde beat first-candidate Christine Cegelis 56%-44% in this election. Melissa Bean got 43% of the vote in '02 when she first ran against Phil Crane and beat him this time around 52%-48%. What do you say guys? Can we "Bean" Hyde in '06? The races are quite simliar.

Henry Hyde is an aging fossil in Congress and wouldn't be getting any younger in '06. Cegelis is a young business woman who got over 40% of the vote the first time she faced him. Hyde's district is not nearly as Republican as it use to be. Add in the fact that the Republicans will be have more power in Congress and Celegis can run on a 'bringing balance and energy back to Congress' kind of theme.

Of course we will have to work hard for Bean too. Her re-election in '06 won't be easy. This is the same district that was able to stomach Crane for so long.

Another race to look at is Tari Renner (D) v Jerry Weller (R) in Illinois 11. Renner got 41% of the vote, not far from Bean '02 and Cegelis '04. I think this one is more of a long shot because Weller is a younger vibrant person as opposed to Crane and Hyde. No. 11 is gerrymandered out to hell with it including Joliet, Kankakee, Ottawa, Bureau County, and a small slice of Livingston and Woodford counties which connect parts of Bloomington-Normal to it. A candidate has to cover a lot of ground in this district.

Let's put our eyes on Weller and Hyde for '06 and start cracking.

[mopinko]

1. i was sure that cegalis would win

i was really dissappointed. i wonder how clean that vote was. that district really is getting more dem. they have some hard working, die hard dems out there. yup, hyde can be beat.

[dansolo]

8. I'm actually suprised she got 44%

Believe me, I live in her district, and contributed to her campaign. Yet I hardly even knew who she was until 2 weeks before the primary. Even leading up to the election I barely heard her name mentioned. Hyde can be beat, but the area is still Republican, even if it is trending to be less so. The voting was clean. The only thing that was dirty was how they "accidentally" put her in the wrong race on the sample ballot that was distributed to all of the local papers, making it look like Henry Hyde was running uncontested.

[jjanpundt]

10. Well, it wasn't just the sample ballot in the newspaper

on my ballot (Elk Grove Village) her name wasn't there. It looked as if Hyde was unopposed and I left it unpunched (I despise Hyde.)Unfortunately I hadn't heard much about her until 2 days before the election.

[metisnation]

14. I was born in Elk Grove Now in McHenry

East or West side?

[CarbonDate]

2. I'm in a "safe" district....

...with Jerry Costello as my Congressman, so I could throw some support toward getting rid of Hyde.

But why settle? Let's go for the big prize: Hastert.

Hell, the Republicans got Daschle this year, and they got Foley back in '94. Why couldn't we bring down Hastert?

[Doomsayer13]

3. because hastert's positioned in deep GOP territory

South Dakota is heavily Republican, that's why Daschle lost. Hastert's district is one of the most heavily GOP districts in the state. There would need to be a massive GOP implosion or a major scandal for Hastert to be unseatable.

[mopinko]

4. hmmmm

i dunno. ruben zamora was a decent candidate. i was surprised he didn't do better. i haven't lived out that way for a long time. i have no doubt that they drew it that way. but he does have a couple of good size cities, with minority populations. so there is some base there.
but i know they have a lot of nutters, too. chris lauzen, the state rep (? or senator, don't remember) is a died in the wool, fundie whacko.

i'll tell ya tho, if our dear leaders do not turn to be working behind the scenes to overthrow this sham election, next time i am doing 2 things. one is to work for the northern illinois dem congress candidates, and the other is to work for the local greens. i was really frustrated that the party did not do much for these candidates. they got behind bean. but cegalis was really close, and the local dems there have been working their hearts out. i think that jan schakowsky did more for her than the party.

[Tweed]

5. My guess is that internal polls showed Bean and Cegelis close

But Bean was closer. They could either try to win both races or focus on the one that had the best shot. Bean '02 and Cegelis '04 are so similar that if Bean '04 was successful they would apply Bean's 04 to Cegelis '06. It makes sense to me. Don't gamble so much and find a winning strategy. Maybe next time around Cegelis will be able to get the endorsement of all of the major newspapers like Bean did this time.

[Doomsayer13]

6. Dems had to spend resources elsewhere this year

in 2006, they'll be targeting congress. This year, it was all presidency all the time - Democrats were less focused on congress and more focused on beating Bush. we didn't have a national message and all our grassroots organizing went to swing states.

Obama lent a hand in local races though, that was good. I think we can try to knock out Hyde a second time, and see what happens.

[mopinko]

7. nuthin else TO do

but hit it next time. i just am thinking about that $15 mil, left sittin. boy, a sliver of that.... to a dean dozen, yet.
and if i ran the party, hyde would have had an enormous target on his back after the impeachment. better yet, i would have taken him out after the hyde amendment. just shows how much better off we would all be if choice was a higher priority for the party.

[tritsofme]

9. I doubt that Hyde will run

I mean hell he's already 80 and won't be any younger in 2006.

I've heard from a number of people that this was to be both Hyde and Crane's last terms, but Crane got retired early.

[xBobx804]

11. Hyde's plans

I heard from Christeen that Hyde will make the announcement in August if he is going to run for reelection. We will find out then. Christeen did say taht she is changing her stratagy in 2006 to what exactly she didn't divulge.

[Tweed]

12. Welcome to the DU!

Thanks for the inside info!

[DaveinMD]

13. Hyde's district is much tougher

I went to Melissa's swearing in reception tonight. What a great person she is.