Crane's hearing footsteps in 9th District race

[chiburb]

Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill.) is running for his 19th term looking over his shoulder as Democratic challenger Melissa Bean is catching up in their 2004 rematch.



Bean, 42, tossed Crane, 73, his biggest general election challenge when Crane beat her 56 percent to 43 percent in 2002. But she was outspent about 3-1 and was a rookie campaigner.

It's a little different story this time around. It's a presidential year, and President Bush is not expected to do well in Illinois. Crane can't count on any help from a Republican Senate contender because the state GOP is still searching for a candidate. And there are a lot of new people in the northwest suburban district, which includes part of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties, who don't know from Phil Crane. He's been around a long time, and they have not.

This is the biggest race in Illinois and is getting noticed on the national level in part because Crane is taking fire from fellow Republicans who want him to crank it up a few notches. A seat in a district as Republican as the 9th Congressional District should not be on an endangered list, but it is. It's a headache the GOP can do without.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sweet/cst-edt-sweet22.html

[WI_DEM]

1. Crane is well overdue to be defeated

this could be another of those upsets which will give the democrats the house in November.

[tritsofme]

2. Crane is the 8th District. nt

[aldian159]

3. good point

isn't Jan in the 9th?

[never cry wolf]

4. Yes, Jan Schakowski is in the neighboring dist.

She is also running unopposed and is heavily using her resources to assist Bean.

[mopinko]

6. jan organized the glenview protest

gave a platform to cegalis, and a state rep candidate. she was also involved in a healthcare forum in lincoln park where zamora was prowling the crowd. she is the greatest.

[Eman]

5. Crane Spamming on the internet

Today I received a solicitation from Crane for permission to email constituants "several times a month" at government expense. My Spam Assassin captures junk mail with more than 5 points. The poorly written solicitation from Crane came in with 11.4 SPAM points. It figures.

This from a congressman who never even posted his free congressional email address for years. Obviously he IS hearing footsteps, but sadly we taxpayers are now paying for his stepped-up campaigning.

Time to make the crane extinct.