Not shockingly (to those not so close to the situation) but Bill Foster won the 14th Congressional District seat to replace Dennis Hastert on Saturday, March 8th, 2008. Jim Oberweis is now a 4-time loser (this, being the first running outside of his own party) and should probably take the hint and save some of his millions of dollars that he has.
This really is a stunner for Kane County and shows how horrible November could be for the Republicans in general. Final tally had it a 53/47 percent victory, a spread of 6%.
I'm sure, since these two put on the gloves and go back at it again in November, that every single vote Bill Foster makes is going to be over-analyzed and brought up. I just don't know if Oberweis is going to be excited to be a five-time loser. With the Presidential election also in November, and with the winds of "change" blowing very forcefully, I can't see Foster choking this up, but one never knows. Only time will tell.
I just missed Bill today by about two hours. MK and I had breakfast at the Apple Villa Pancake House and he was there in the morning thanking the voters for electing him.
10 March 2008
07 March 2008
Ice Cream v Science
In what could be the bellweather pre-cursor to how November will go, tomorrow is the special election to fill the vacant seat in the House of Representatives by Dennis Hastert.
In a district that has voted Hastert for 21 years, we have Republican Jim Oberweis versus Democrat Bill Foster. For those local enough to Chicago, we all know the name Oberweis for the "premium" priced milk and ice cream that keeps our families fed and happy. I really love the banana malts at Oberweis and my wife digs the caramel shakes.
Bill Foster is a former Fermi Lab employee who went into business for himself and made a boat-load of money.
This is Jim's fourth attempt at running for political office (Gov, Sen and House-twice) and the first time he's actually become the Republican nominee. He didn't have a lot of competition in the primary to be fair, but the fact that this is his fourth attempt does potentially shed light on how his party's supporters see him. Frankly, he's a traditional right wing conservative who's tried to tone down his political rhetoric for this election. Only recently have mailing gone out in Spanish (by the DCCC) to remind everyone of his extreme stances on immigration to this country.
Foster has embraced that now ear-bleeding mantra of "change" which, for the 14th District really WILL be a change if we elect a Democrat, but truly hasn't put forth too many substantive ideas through his commercials which is disappointing. He's been targeted as the typical "tax and spend" liberal who is going to cost us all $8000 per family more in taxes if elected. He seems to support everything Barack is saying though trying to ride along on the popular coat tails.
In a boost to the advertising economy, the money spent on commercials has been staggering with both the DCCC and the NRCC dumping cash into the mix. Every ad has been an attack ad trying to portray the other as the "extreme" that they are except for one for Foster that has Barack Obama endorsing him (smart or will it backfire?). But my favorite attack ad is the one of the cows saying "Nooooooooooooooo" about Oberweis (can't find it online). It is humorous and ties all of the alleged claims against Oberweis visually to him with the thing that has made a hell of a lot of money for him, cows.
I'm not going to evaluate all of the advertising as frankly, it's the typical "too extreme"/"he's going to make you worse off" sort of pablum that the parties have just continued to shove at us. However, if Bill Foster can generate enough support to get people out to elect him on a quiet Saturday in March, than this very well could be an ominous bell sounding for the Republicans in November. I think many of us believe that it's destined to be a bloodbath in the General Election anyway, but if a Democrat can pull this one off, it's going to confirm what the NRCC's biggest fears are.
There's a special election in Indiana as well (filling the seat of a rep who passed away), but this one doesn't have that sort of emotion where a rep was taken prematurely. Hastert resigned amid many complaints that he fell down on the job as Speaker with some of the sex scandals and other things he potentially overlooked while in charge, but frankly he was an honest, solid politician who really cared about our district. He successfully got "bacon" back for us as our district's growth exploded in the 90's and in the end, he was the "High School Teacher who could". To replace a long-term Republican who became Speaker of the House with a Democrat though, will be painful for their party to swallow.
...and to think that the Oberweis/Foster campaign gets to play itself out again in November means even MORE ads. However, I'm going to find it difficult to vote against whoever wins since there's not going to be enough time for them to create a voting record and get anything done between now and then.
In a district that has voted Hastert for 21 years, we have Republican Jim Oberweis versus Democrat Bill Foster. For those local enough to Chicago, we all know the name Oberweis for the "premium" priced milk and ice cream that keeps our families fed and happy. I really love the banana malts at Oberweis and my wife digs the caramel shakes.
Bill Foster is a former Fermi Lab employee who went into business for himself and made a boat-load of money.
This is Jim's fourth attempt at running for political office (Gov, Sen and House-twice) and the first time he's actually become the Republican nominee. He didn't have a lot of competition in the primary to be fair, but the fact that this is his fourth attempt does potentially shed light on how his party's supporters see him. Frankly, he's a traditional right wing conservative who's tried to tone down his political rhetoric for this election. Only recently have mailing gone out in Spanish (by the DCCC) to remind everyone of his extreme stances on immigration to this country.
Foster has embraced that now ear-bleeding mantra of "change" which, for the 14th District really WILL be a change if we elect a Democrat, but truly hasn't put forth too many substantive ideas through his commercials which is disappointing. He's been targeted as the typical "tax and spend" liberal who is going to cost us all $8000 per family more in taxes if elected. He seems to support everything Barack is saying though trying to ride along on the popular coat tails.
In a boost to the advertising economy, the money spent on commercials has been staggering with both the DCCC and the NRCC dumping cash into the mix. Every ad has been an attack ad trying to portray the other as the "extreme" that they are except for one for Foster that has Barack Obama endorsing him (smart or will it backfire?). But my favorite attack ad is the one of the cows saying "Nooooooooooooooo" about Oberweis (can't find it online). It is humorous and ties all of the alleged claims against Oberweis visually to him with the thing that has made a hell of a lot of money for him, cows.
I'm not going to evaluate all of the advertising as frankly, it's the typical "too extreme"/"he's going to make you worse off" sort of pablum that the parties have just continued to shove at us. However, if Bill Foster can generate enough support to get people out to elect him on a quiet Saturday in March, than this very well could be an ominous bell sounding for the Republicans in November. I think many of us believe that it's destined to be a bloodbath in the General Election anyway, but if a Democrat can pull this one off, it's going to confirm what the NRCC's biggest fears are.
There's a special election in Indiana as well (filling the seat of a rep who passed away), but this one doesn't have that sort of emotion where a rep was taken prematurely. Hastert resigned amid many complaints that he fell down on the job as Speaker with some of the sex scandals and other things he potentially overlooked while in charge, but frankly he was an honest, solid politician who really cared about our district. He successfully got "bacon" back for us as our district's growth exploded in the 90's and in the end, he was the "High School Teacher who could". To replace a long-term Republican who became Speaker of the House with a Democrat though, will be painful for their party to swallow.
...and to think that the Oberweis/Foster campaign gets to play itself out again in November means even MORE ads. However, I'm going to find it difficult to vote against whoever wins since there's not going to be enough time for them to create a voting record and get anything done between now and then.
04 March 2008
My little boy's first day at school
Yesterday was Aidan's first day at school. He actually goes to a school, not daycare. If yesterday was any indication of what The Goddard School will do for him on a daily basis, than I'm incredibly impressed. I guess looking back at it, if I didn't believe that this was the place for Aidan almost a year ago when we signed him up for it, than I would be an idiot.
It was a bit nerve-racking to drop him off. After 13 weeks of being solely in our care, we are now entrusting his well-being to strangers.
So when I picked him up, he gave me a big smile which made me feel great. He played "ball" during the day which means that they rolled the ball on the floor and he followed it with his eyes. He did very well.
I can't wait to see what he did today. I really wish they had webcams up in the rooms, that'd be great, but I'd probably lose my job because I'd spend all of my time watching him grow.
It was a bit nerve-racking to drop him off. After 13 weeks of being solely in our care, we are now entrusting his well-being to strangers.
So when I picked him up, he gave me a big smile which made me feel great. He played "ball" during the day which means that they rolled the ball on the floor and he followed it with his eyes. He did very well.
I can't wait to see what he did today. I really wish they had webcams up in the rooms, that'd be great, but I'd probably lose my job because I'd spend all of my time watching him grow.
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