OneMan reading Open Line in the Beacon News so you don't have to...

Quick Summary of some of the stuff that has been showing up lately.

East Aurora School Referendum

• Hey those houses have lots of people and they don't pay taxes
• What is in it for me?
• Oh man my taxes are too high....
• The timing is bad (like it is ever good)

The Special Election

It's Hasterts Fault that..

• We had to have it in the first place
• Jim lost
• I haven't gotten paid yet for the primary or the special election

General

• You don't cover the IRL enough
• You don't cover NASCAR enough
• I don't miss the salsa music during the winter

My personal favorite is the guy who called in about the election and because Jim campaigned against Chris the caller wanted to remind Jim of the saying "The postman always rings twice" which best I can tell is nothing more that the title of a novel that was made into several movies and the title came from the fact the novel got rejected so many times, there are at least 4 explanations of where the title came from here.

Well it looks like we have at least one Republican candidate for governor. (ht Rich) 

So Bill here is some of my unsolicited advice.

A) Create a facebook group now.

B) Have someone start doing funny little web videos about the current administration

C) Do a follow the money type site involving the governors fund raising and contracts

D) Open up a big ol' can of FOIA requests on the administration.  Start with the prison review board.

E) Start raising money

Contact Republican bloggers and see if they are free for lunch.

OneMan

Well here is an interesting question.

If you are the Clinton campaign do you start going after Obama's Illinois connections? Tony, Bill Beavers, Emil and Rod just to name a few?

Figure 'I am the hog with the big nuts' will not play real well in some parts of the country.

If the fact he hasn't spent a ton of time in Washington is an advantage, why not focus on where he has spent time?

OneMan

As for the comments about the Rick mailer, I am not sure we have it around anymore. It was a basic piece with some stuff about growing and developing downtown without it being so taxpayer dependant. All in all a very positive piece, it didn't mention Tom or anything if I recall.

OneMan

Got a Rick Lawernce mailer today, I guess the mayors race has begun in Aurora.

OneMan

Still trying to figure out how the Beacon's telemarketing operation got my cell phone number.

A fancy movie theater is coming to South Barrington with $35 tickets at seats that look like this.

My fear is that with a seat that comfortable I would end up paying $35 for taking a two hour nap.  Also that I would ever think $35 was a reasonable price to pay to see a movie.

OneMan

It looks like we may nominate a guy to run in the 11th who has given Rod $23,000.

It seems to me part of our strategy would be running against Rod and Springfield to beat Halverson.

So we are going to run a guy who have given to the governor.

Andy Seré, a spokesman for Ozinga’s campaign, said Ozinga is confident about his chances of becoming the nominee and that the contributions are proof of his bipartisanship.

The contributions are proof of his bipartisanship...

Brilliant!

Seriously, when does Allan Funt appear from behind a tree and tell me this is all part of some elaborate prank.

OneMan

Ok, 

I think I have tried my best to be fair with Sen. Obama in this blog.  But I have to say I am really disappointed in what I saw when looking at his tax returns.   It appears in terms of cash donations in years that they made over 100K a year the Obama family gave between 1% and 2% of their income to charity. Until he started making serious money thanks to the books.

Yes, I know he did pro-bono legal work, but still that is just sad when it comes to cash donations. But still it is disappointing, it is interesting that he talked about how important his church is to him but didn't seem it necessary (or at least he didn't have documentation) to give it very much money. 

For someone who tries to come across a caring it now seems a bit hypocritical.

In reply to SCAM, he did take the child care allowance. My church gives me a summary of my giving so it makes it easy.  Also I would think for political reasons you would want to keep track of that if nothing else.

OneMan

From an assignment that my son (the first grader) did at school titled 'If I were president', I cleaned up the grammar a bit

If I were president I would ride Air Force One every time we won a war.  If I were president I would pass laws to make the world more peaceful and fair. If I were president I would help kids pass a grade if they have a disability  If I were president I would take care of the homeless. If I were president  I would make sure kids have enough clothes.

Does anyone think that when told anything that might be remotely positive for Obama Mark Penn would just say 'That Sucks'?

Meet the Omega-3 Pig or heart healthy bacon.... Hmmmm bacon.

OneMan

The Beacon has the story on the proposed anti-robocall legislation.

Interesting idea, I don't think it is unnecessarily a bad idea. I don't think anyone who is active in politics is a real fan on the robocall, the one big advantage is if you have a voice with 'star-power' think Obama, Hastert, Bush I think it can be an effective way to get folks attention.

However I wonder if the law would have made the call I got from Foster after the election informing me he was going to be at a local Jewel illegal?

I would suggest they add something that says if I give a group the right to auto-call me they can do so even if I am on the list.

The only other thing is technology may get ahead of the curve as it is, like virtual phone banking that the Obama campaign is doing now. The next logical step with this is VOIP so you sit at home, put on a headset and start making calls.

Now imagine interest groups (unions, PACs, etc) having their members around the country doing this for targeted races. I suspect down the road you will have the same issue with live calls and there will be calls to put these under the standard no-call rules.

Or pay folks per call, you could have a large virtual workforce who works from home that you can have on call when you need them.

I doubt it will pass because all sorts of forces are going to be against it without a 'we can call our members/list regardless' exemption.

OneMan

Eric Zorn has a conversation in his blog with Jenny O. Roberts (Jim Oberweis' oldest daughter). It is well worth a read and she brings up a point I want to offer my own opinion on. I have heard from more than one person, folks that I trust and like, who have opinions that I value tell me that Jim is 'unlikable' .

The thing is that the Jim I got to know during this campaign is not the Jim Oberweis that is reflected in TV commercials and mailers. He really is a nice guy who cares, yes I can hear some of you laughing, but seriously, if you have a 20 minute conversation with him you will end up with a very different impression than you get from 60 seconds of him in a TV ad. You may disagree with him on the issues and that is understandable depending on where you are coming from. But after sitting and talking with him, I know you would have a different and a better impression of him.

Yes I worked on the campaign and no I didn't 'drink the cool-aide'. From the first conversation we have about him running for congress I thought 'You know if people see this Jim, they are going to like him' .

You may think I am nuts, but if the folks in the 14th see the Jim Oberweis I got to see he will be our next congressman.


OneMan

The City of Aurora is looking for an 8th Ward Alderman, no I don't live in the ward, but the interview would be entertaining

Archpundit sort of has a point...

Well it has been a week.

A week of folks offering thoughts to me on what we did wrong, what they think we should have done differently or better. Have to admit I agree with what they have said to some degree or another, not all of it by any means but some of it makes sense.

However I think some good is going to come out of all of this.

First, I think we learned some things as Republicans in this part of the state about how to have a ground game and what a ground game means.

Secondly: I hope we have awoken some committeemen about what being a committeemen is going to require going forward. The days of being passive about it are over.

Third: I think we have everyone thinking, even if it coming up with a million ways we messed up they are thinking and good can come from that.


We will see if these lessons last....

OneMan

I know I don't have a dog in this race so to speak but...

If the superdelegates are supposed to just go along with the majority (or the majority in their states) why bother having them besides as a way to thank people?

If they are supposed to be a firewall or act in the best interests of their party why not let them use their own judgement to do so?

Looking for some opinions from my Democratic pals.

OneMan

It appears that Sen. Obama requessted a $1 million earmark for the Hospital at U of C, where is wife works.

Looking forward to my favorite Democratic bloggers defending this, explaining how it's no big deal, nothing to see here, etc.

Regardless guys and gals he is going to get hammered for this, by Sen. Clinton (more likely her proxies), Sen. McCain, The Republican Party and a 527 or two to be named later.

OneMan

There is a comment on my re-count post that is worth a read. I was under the impression that you had 10 days to file the request for re-count. Not 10 days to do the recount and file the complaint.

Also I didn't mean to imply that the attorney owed anyone an apology, he is just doing his job. (I realize now that is how it reads, that is not what I meant).

I meant that I felt (and still do) that Johnny owed the election authorities an apology. Why, because I still think he should have waited until Monday and if he didn't I think he owes it to his supporters to follow up on the recount.

OneMan

Well Johnny dropped his re-count request

“We thank the election authorities in the 14th Congressional District for your kindnesses to our campaign and for your extraordinary service to the citizens of the 14th District,” Laesch’s attorney, Richard K. Means, said in a statement today announcing the petition’s withdrawl.

You owe those election authorities an apology. During the final days of a unique special election they had to put resources into getting stuff organized for your recount. A recount request that last less than 96 hours. You wasted their time and my money as part of it. You didn't have to file the request on Friday, you could have waited until Monday to see how the special election turned out. You chose not to, perhaps to send a message to your supporters about Foster, who know why. But you managed to add to the stress of local election officials who were trying to pull off two elections within 6 weeks and the thing is you didn't have to.

So thanking them is one thing, but saying sorry for putting them through this is what you should be doing.

OneMan

As some others have pointed out, why is it when someone in public life has one of these 'issues' the wife is always standing next to him looking supportive.

I think it is safe to say, if I was ever in that position (and I have no plans to be) I would have to hold the press conference doubled over (and rightfully so).

Just once in these situations I would like to see the loving wife just belt the guy.

OneMan

Ummm awkward.

I guess my question is you are the former attorney general of NY now the governor of NY and you think you can pull that off are you that cocky or that stupid? Also why do I suspect this isn't the first time this has happened.

I bet there is visible Schadenfreude across Wall Street right now.

OneMan

From Today's Sun Times

Sen. Barack Obama was among eight state officials and others consulted about who should be appointed to a state board that later became involved in what prosecutors describe as a fraud scheme, according to a memo from a Democratic official.

The June 2003 memo by former Democratic National Committee chairman David Wilhelm did not indicate exactly what input Obama had in connection with appointing members to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. It gave no indication Obama was involved in the alleged corruption that later engulfed the board.

Considering the issues that the health board had any sort of involvement is not going to be helpful to Obama, I suspect this may end up in an ad before all is said and done.

OneMan

Well I guess Bill Foster is the top dog Democrat in the fox valley now. So what does this mean for the some of the current top local Democrats (Linda Chapa-LaVia, Linda Holmes and Tom Wiesner)?

I suspect this may have some impact on if Tom decides to run for re-election because if Foster gets behind someone I suspect he will have a large impact and right now Tom does not seem to be Bill Foster's type of Democrat.

Also I wonder if Linda has a case of the the 'what ifs' right now?

OneMan

Well that sucked....

Congratulations to the Foster folks, you won. Can't lie kind of hope Johnny's re-count works out :-)


Don't know what's next, don't really care right now, sure that will change in a couple of days. Right now just going to enjoy a beverage and planning to just do next to nothing tomorrow.

If you want to neener-neener to me or whatever please feel free, I know this entry would have been a gloat fest if we had won.

Thanks Arch for the nice thought.

Thanks to Rich for making me laugh via an e-mail.

And yes that was my picture on CapFax at that point it was still some tired and some oh-man....

Going to enjoy the rest of my beverage now.

OneMan

From Today Sun Times....

Washington is no place for the political novice, the faint of heart or the poorly informed.

Washington is a place for men and women of clear convictions prepared to engage in vigorous debate to advance the interests of all Americans and our nation's place in the world.

That is why we are endorsing Republican Jim Oberweis, the ice cream man with the admittedly rancorous edge, for Congress in Saturday's special election in the 14th District. We don't share Oberweis' views on all the issues, but we respect that he knows exactly where he stands and would jump feet first into the job, unlike his remarkably tepid opponent, Democrat Bill Foster.

We see the irony in this endorsement. The Sun-Times in recent months has made a point of returning to its political roots, speaking with a more progressive editorial voice than our competitor, the conservative Chicago Tribune. Yet now we find ourselves backing Oberweis, a rock-ribbed Republican, while the Tribune sides with Foster. Like all leaders, Oberweis has a point of view, which he argues forcefully and effectively.

But after meeting at length with both candidates, this endorsement was not such a difficult call. Oberweis was forceful and informed, while Foster was a disappointment. Though a respected physicist, he failed to do his homework, unable to discuss important issues in anything but superficial terms.

Lets look at that last sentence again.

Though a respected physicist, he failed to do his homework, unable to discuss important issues in anything but superficial terms.

So after running for over a year he can't answer questions with any depth, if you ask me that is more important that if you like the tone of a someone ads.

OneMan

Ok where do I start.

Well the out of state mailer. I have seen it and it is really ugly and to be blunt a host of BS.

"Interestingly, this mail piece was mailed from Santa Clara, California, with a live stamp attached to it, so we can't trace back the USPS postal permit to see who's behind this anonymous, out-of-state attack. It purports to come from some outfit calling itself 'Latino Neighbors Against Hate Crimes,' which could just as easily by one person, or just a few -- a Google search reveals no references anywhere on the world wide web, and a check of the Nexis database, the Federal Election Commission, OpenSecrets.org, and even the National Council of La Raza turns up nothing on this so-called 'group.'

So as much as I enjoy reading all the blog posts portraying the Foster folks as a bunch of happy grass roots people who just really care (really I am starting to enjoy that narrative any time someone blogs about their Democratic candidates, look forward to you guys writing that about Rod in a few years).

Secondly, it looks like the Illegal imigrants ad is getting pulled because it is BS (funny you don't see it on some of the channels anymore, but oh yeah that right only big bad Republicans ever have that happen, I forgot.)

It is also going to be nice to see the Oberweis Dariy may be able to get some DNCC cash.

OneMan

From California

"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote in a Feb. 28 opinion for the 2nd District Court of Appeals.

Man this is going to tick some people off.

You can't see them really well but there are like 5 or 6 deer in the photo. This was in Aurora today.

OneMan

If she wins Ohio and Texas, I think she may have a bit of a point about winning the 'big states'.

If nothing else I think if you are the Democratic party you have to have some sort of do-over for Michigan and Florida if she can win those as well then I think she may have a point about taking a look at the bigger picture.

She may also hope for some sort to Rezko bombshell between now and PA, unlikely but remember kids Rezko is going to play differently with folks outside of Illinois.

Also I suspect you will see more of the Red Phone ads during the next few weeks.

Opps, sorry we sent the money to the wrong place but since I looked bad here is another million dollars.

Gov. Blagojevich's administration sent $1 million to "the wrong place" last year in a move that failed to live up to his promise to help fire-ravaged Pilgrim Baptist Church rise from the ashes, the governor said Monday.

Blagojevich attributed the $1 million "bureaucratic mix-up" to the work of a couple of ex-staffers and pledged another $1 million --on top of what was erroneously spent -- to help the Bronzeville architectural gem recover from a devastating 2006 fire.

Sorry your roads stink and 47 has so many potholes in one stretch that it is hard to tell if it is a paved road but I can move money around to keep myself from looking bad.

OneMan

It would appear my old pal Rick is part of a vast left wing conspiracy to keep Hillary down, who knew?

However I was blogging about the Obama blog way before it became trendy for Democrats to do it today.

OneMan

The Beacon via their blog responded to my stuff about their endorsements...



Go give it a read.

A Democratic organization wouldn't claim to be non-partisan would they? No not liberals, they would never do something like that. Also wasn't it Democrats who pushed for electronic voting?

Just Asking.

OneMan

Well the endorsements are out today...

The Daily Herald Endorsed Jim...


The Beacon didn't, can't say I am surprised.

Their attempt to act like that because they endorsed Hastert in the past that the fact that they endorsed a Democrat is a big deal. In virtually every contested local race (where there is a 'real' democrat running) they endorse the democrat. The first Holmes vs Wintermute race, they endorsed Linda Holmes with out even mentioning that she wrote for them. They endorsed Weisner over Irvin, Chapa LaVia over everyone, I don't think anyone would consider the Beacon a 'Republican' paper. Nice try framing it that way Beacon.

If you are going to say.
"It's quite possible this newspaper has never before backed a Democrat in a 14th Congressional District general election" Why not spend a few minutes searching your archives to find out. Isn't that what interns are for?


OneMan