Well Tom is circulating...

Tom Weisner (or I should say folks on his behalf) are circulating petitions and I drove by his campaign office, so I would guess he is in.

OneMan

So is the Bill thing serious?

I sent some messages out asking folks to help out with the Bill movement on facebook and was asked the following question.

Is this serious?

I had to think about that answer a bit, because you know. Bill wouldn't be a bad choice for US Senator. His background in many ways would be a good fit and for what it is worth he would fill the whole idea of 'citizen senator' to a T. I think there is a lot in what Bill does today that would make him a good man for the job.

So bottom line, is this serious. No, but perhaps it should be.

OneMan

Glad to see America will get to see a bit of how we do things here.

It is time for Bill

So Tom is In It To Win It.

So the Beacon says Tom is running for a second term and his health is not an issue.

Well if we take his word for it (a lot of folks still think he is not going to run) then it likely a three person race, Kifowit, Irvin and Weisner. If that is the case I think Tom is going to be tough to beat.

However if it comes down to 5 candidates then we force a primary and it might be easier to beat Tom in a one on one, still going to be tough however.

OneMan

Just a thought...

Mr Frank Buckles is the last surviving US veteran of the first world war.

Might I suggest that Mr. Buckles family be offered the opportunity to have Mr. Buckles be provided with a state funeral like we give to presidents.

I think it is the least we can do as a way to say thank you to the folks who fought in the war to end all wars.

OneMan

As for Who OneMan Will Support for Mayor...

Well lately I think whomever has the best/quickest plan for making getting out of the Aurora side of the RT 59 Metra station at night take less time.

OneMan

So who isn't going to run for mayor of Aurora now...

Considering the names that have come up.

Richard Irvin, Chris Lauzen, Stephanie Kifowit, Linda Chapa-LaVia and Mike McCoy

This could end up really interesting. Don't know if we would end up with all of these folks in but pick any three and it would be interesting. Have both Chris Lauzen and Linda Chapa-LaVia along with a third candidate it becomes really, really interesting.

If you ended up with Irvin, Chapa-LaVia, Kifowit and McCoy it would be interesting too...

Again this all assumes Tom Weisner isn't going to run.

OneMan

If Linda Chapa-LaVia decides to run for Mayor of Aurora.

She would be really, really, really hard to beat. I think if she enters the race it is a complete game changer.   Why.

• Name recognition.
  
• Cross-Party popularity (look how well she did in the last election)
• Ability to raise money.
• Local connections, better than Stephanie's for sure.
• Ask a Republican if they would prefer Linda or Tom Weisner
• Will likely keep any other Gen-X candidate (think Richard Irvin) out of the race
• If she were to lose for some reason it would have no real impact on her current status.

Why I think she will do it...

Because she can win and she will not have to spend as much time away from her family. Also a successful term or two as mayor of the second largest city in the state (and a very diverse one at that) might be a great stepping stone to bigger and better.  The longer she stays in Springfield the more she builds up a voting record and the harder it will be for her to move up.

If Tom Weisner doesn't run I would be shocked if she didn't.

Some random post campaign thoughts

Some of these are sort of me venting but reguardless I think they all contain a bit of truth.

-- Linda Holmes, you won thanks to Obama not due to your 'Focus on better neighborhoods'

-- Bill Foster does not have 'it', yes he won and good for him. But I saw someone comment that Bill Foster has the same 'it' that Obama does, sorry no. Having seen Bill Foster live I have never seen a candidate go to his notes so much. There is something to be said for that, but 'it' is not one of them.

-- The fact that another congressional seat was not picked off in Illinois is a surprise to me.

-- Sometimes it is better not to run a candidate at all.

-- I think we should require all attorneys to work as election judges on election day as a bar requirement.

OneMan

Just a thought for today...

From a newspaper column  in Utah...

You should have to pass a harder test to get married than the one we currently have. Essentially, there are but two questions: "How old are you?" and "Is that your sister?" Hell, you could pass this test just by guessing.

I don't know if it is time for Tom..

But it is a question worth asking...

http://www.itstimefortom.blogspot.com/

To the commenter, my question isn't really a function of if Tom is ready but more just me starting a converstation.

I think Tom would be a welcome candidate for statewide office for any office.

OneMan

My Own Uninformed Opinion

Rep. Fritchie will get a position within the Obama administration.  So will Jim Thompson

Starting the Conversation....

Well lets start the conversation....

First:

I think we need to agree on is the plan and approach whatever it may end up being has to work on the assumption that nothing bad happens to and with the democrats.

-- The Governor is not charged with any crime

-- The Obama administration is successful

-- The next primary season is a democratic love fest, no bloody battles

Do I think all of the above will come to pass, no. But we can't approach the future on the assumption that the wheels are going to fall off the democratic cart..

Secondly:

We have to have a real conversation and figure out what we can all agree on that we can use to reach out to voters.  In my opinion it isn't going to be social issues, I look forward to people convincing me I am wrong.  But we need to have a conversation not a shouting match. 

Much more to come.

OneMan

Thanks Jake.

Well Jake has gotten the conversation started today...  I have some of my own thoughts about next steps

Still a crowd in front of the trig

If everyday was today for the tribune they would be fine

Sent from my iPhone

Just Got home...

Good Luck Mr. President Elect at nations prayers go with you. Make Illinois prod and surprise the Republicans, no Republican will be happier if you do than I.

To Rick, Arch, Rob_N thanks for the intelligent conversation during this cycle.

It looks like we only lost one US House seat in Illinois so we got that going for us.


More thoughts tomorrow.

OneMan

That sucked

Oh well

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Finishing up the absantee ballots

Fun!

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Last one in

Bed by midnight?

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Turns out that the city of aurora

Blocks capitolfax

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Almost all in

Will I be home by 11?

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Cars backed up waiting to drop off

Coming in fast now

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Stuff coming in earlier than expected

Getting the results up on the net not so much

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First pct in

That's a record!

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Lots of provisionals

Lots of provisionals

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No line at Alden as of now

Things are slower expect they will pick up

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Test of email post

Checking for tonight

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Updated: So who are you going to support for Seante President.

For the A-1's follow the link...


If your A-1 are they way I understand them they

on 10/31 shows 10K from Silverstein for Senator 
on 10/28 shows  5K  from Senator John Sullivan
on 10/26 shows 25K from Friends of Clayborn
on 10/23 shows 20K from Deep Blue Illinois (with Jeff Schoenberg as Chair)
on 10/16 shows 10K from Friends of Don Harmon
on 10/9 shows 35K from Friends of Clayborn
on 10/8 shows 100K from the Senate Democratic Victory Fund. (with John Cullerton as Chair)
on 9/22 shows 15K from Friends of Clayborn 
on 8/30 shows 10K from Friends of Don Harmon

You have to wonder since most of them seem to be named as candidates for Senate President. How you are going to say no to some of them if you get re-elected and it's time to figure out who you are going to support for support for president. How is someone who gave you 70K or 100K going to respond if you support someone else for president.

That's one of the downsides of not doing your own fund raising...

OneMan

Some Thoughts about what is going on in Aurora

Well we have the judge race Morelli vs. Murphy in our new judical subcirut. It's been interesting to see how many Morelli signs I have seen in front of busnesses that have nothing but Democrat signs.  

I also think the state senate race is going to be even closer this time. If there are groups trying to push Linda Holmes on my really hard R wife then someone has to be worried...

It will be interesting.

OneMan