by Matthew Hay Brown
The House Democrats' chief fundraiser said the victory in today’s special election for the Illinois seat vacated by Republican former Speaker Dennis Hastert is only the beginning of the hurt his party is going to lay on the GOP this fall.
“Despite spending 20 percent of … their cash on hand, the [National Republican Congressional Committee] was unable to hold a seat easily won by President Bush and held by Speaker Hastert for 20 years,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen crowed. “Americans of all political stripes are rejecting Republicans’ divisive, status quo politics and turning to Democratic candidates for change.”
Democrat Bill Foster, a physicist running his first campaign, scored a 52-48 upset over Republican Jim Oberweis, a dairy owner who was expected to hold Illinois’ 14th Congressional District for the GOP. Foster won even in Kendall County, Hastert’s home base, reliably Republican – until now.
The NRCC took exception to Van Hollen’s analysis.
“The one thing 2008 has shown is that one election in one state does not prove a trend,” spokeswoman Karen Hanretty said. “In fact, there has been no national trend this entire election season. The presidential election is evidence of that. The Democratic candidates are trading election victories from week to week and the nomination could hinge on a few news cycles. The one message coming out of 2008 so far is that what happens today is not a bellwether of what happens this fall.”
Van Hollen said Foster’s victory “sends a political shock wave across America this election year.”
“It is a stunning rejection of the Bush Administration, its Republican allies, and presidential nominee John McCain,” the Maryland Democrat said. “Republican candidates learned tonight that Senator McCain, who campaigned with the Republican nominee, cannot save them from defeat this November against strong Democratic challengers, even in districts that voted overwhelmingly for President Bush.”
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Comments
Congrats Bill!!! A very decent fellow with some excellent ideas.
( ) insert typical republican tax propaganda here.
Posted by: Logic Prisoner | March 9, 2008 12:20 AM
Woohoo! Even Republican districts are sick of the Republicans. Foster is a big step up from Hastert.
Posted by: Tom O | March 9, 2008 12:35 AM
THAT'S GOT TO BE DISAPPOINTING AND EMBARRASSING FOR THE GOP!
http://OsiSpeaks.com or http://RealConservativesSpeak.com
Posted by: KYJurisDoctor | March 9, 2008 12:42 AM
THAT'S GOT TO BE DISAPPOINTING AND EMBARRASSING FOR THE GOP!
http://OsiSpeaks.com or http://RealConservativesSpeak.com
Posted by: KYJurisDoctor | March 9, 2008 12:46 AM
I've been hearing Oberweis' ads full of mistruths and lies on WBBM. Made me wish I could have cast a vote for Foster. Glad people saw through it.
Posted by: DD | March 9, 2008 1:18 AM
Bah! This is about the ridiculous and sorry state of the Illinois GOP. Hopefully this is the finally nail in the coffin for the morons who have run the IL GOP into the ground, and some real conservatives can rebuild the party. Good riddance.
Posted by: no name | March 9, 2008 1:27 AM
You have a Democrat Congress and maybe a Democrat President in the future. With that in mind, why would you want a Republican representing your district? It means your district is likely not to see any funding! So, you have to vote for a guy or gal who will bring home the bacon!
Posted by: Lou | March 9, 2008 1:31 AM
The Wingnuts are in deep doo doo this coming fall, if they can't hold onto Denny Hastert's old seat in a Wingnut Red district, it's OVER for them...but I think they already know that.
I expect the Wingers are going to intensify their insane attacks on Obama because let's face it, all the Repubs have to offer America is fear ansd smear because they certainly don't have any new idea's as to how to go about fixing the clusterfreak mess they've made of thing the last 7 years.
Posted by: John E | March 9, 2008 2:51 AM
Read 'em & weep GOPPERS.
That rumbling sound isn't just your indigestion it's the avalanche headed your way come November.
Posted by: Doug "Hussein" Zook | March 9, 2008 7:15 AM
I guess the price of Obeweis' milk will be going up again now that the election is over!
Posted by: lochnessmonster | March 9, 2008 7:23 AM
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Posted by: Anonymous | March 9, 2008 8:42 AM
Hopefully this is great news for the Democrats.
At the same time, I can only wonder.
This is Oberweis' 4th unsuccessful attempt at office. The Republicans wanted nothing to do with him and they brought in Alan Keyes rather than run Oberweis.
On the positive side, thankfully the Republicans in my district FINALLY realized that just because someone says they're a Republican doesn't mean that they are good for the area.
Posted by: dogjudge | March 9, 2008 11:46 AM
I was going to comment on the sorry state of the groaning old pedos, but I would rather ask why the Swamp allowed spam to get posted here. I guess the editors of the Swamp are guarding the house the way the republitards are guarding theirs.
Posted by: rncbs | March 9, 2008 12:15 PM
Congratulations, Democrats and the Chicago Tribune editorial board! Your campaign of disinformation and outright lies worked:
1) Oberweis's investment firm invests billions in China - Show me one investment firm that doesn't invest in China.
2) Oberweis wants to privatize Social Security. This can be used against any Republican, Oberweis just happened to be the target. The Democrats seem to want to keep the "status quo" by not making any changes to the current system. This ensures a train wreck in a few years. I hope all the young voters know who to blame if there is no Social Security for them.
3) Oberweis want to raise the retirement age to 72. I don't know where this comes from, I think the Dems made it up.
4) Oberweis wants to end Employer provided health care. Again, if this means Oberweis wants to reform health care by allowing younger workers to lower their health insurance costs by opting into medical savings accounts (which allow them to rollover their contributions tax free to use when they are older) so they don't have to subsidize health insurance for older employees, I guess the Dems are right, but again it is the Democratic Party that is defending the status quo position that does nothing to control costs, but adds a mandate forcing everyone to purchase health insurance, which keeps rising every year because the health care industry is semi-socialized just as it is. The dirty little secret is that there would be less outsourcing and more affordability if health insurance covered fewer routine procedures that people can afford to pay themselves and covered more fortuitous financially ruinous events that can impose real hardship. But that wouldn't fit in with Union template which provided the financing for Fosters campaign.
The Chicago Tribune claims only that Oberweis campaigned dirty and that Foster ran a clean campaign. These are four examples where Foster, the Unions and the nutroots fearmongering worked.
Posted by: Jim Libbe | March 9, 2008 8:39 PM
Dear Illinois GOP:
Get some new blood.
Love,
Big Jim
Posted by: indemocrat | March 11, 2008 5:38 PM