Revisiting Junior

It was toward the end of last week that I felt compelled to publish a commentary here saying that I didn’t care what Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s political predicaments were – I was unimpressed enough with the field of opposing candidates to think that any of them could amount to anything come Nov. 6.

JACKSON: Still likely a winner?

So naturally, the very next day reports started coming out of Washington about an FBI investigation that has nothing to do with any of the allegations that the Jackson critics have been spouting off about in recent months.

BUT IT IS “suspicious activity” (as described by the Chicago Sun-Times) relating to the Jackson congressional finances and the way he spends his money.

Enhancing the nasty spin of this was a report by NBC News last week that contends attorneys for Jackson actually met with federal prosecutors in Washington to urge them to hold off on any indictment of the Congressman until after Election Day.

That really has the critics going to the point where we have to wonder if it can actually snowball into something of significance – even though we really don’t know much in the way of specifics about what it was that Jackson is supposed to have done that a federal prosecutor would want to file criminal charges against him.

WOODWORTH: Following in Flanagan's footsteps?

All it takes is the word “indictment” and people will screech and scream.

BUT I STILL remain convinced that the motley crew of opponents to the Jackson campaign this year will be incapable of taking advantage of the situation.

When the most intriguing personality of the batch is the guy who couldn’t even get on a ballot and is going via the write-in route, it makes me wonder if the Jackson critics will be more upset about Jackson’s alleged activities, or the fact that the Republican political structure around here is so weak that it couldn’t come up with a real nominee.



Brian Woodworth, who gave up his professorial post to campaign against Jackson, is just too low-key to command attention.

WILLIAMS: Attempt Number 6?



And the Rev. Anthony Williams will be entertaining to listen to. But I don’t think his write-in bid this year will be any more successful than the bids he ran against Jackson in past years as a Republican, a Green Party member, a Libertarian, an independent and even once as a Democrat.

I SUSPECT THERE are those people who are thinking back to 1994 when an indicted Dan Rostenkowski tried to get himself re-elected to another term in Congress.

Ultimately, Rostenkowski admitted that the indictment just placed too much of an obstacle in front of him – enabling the political no-name Michael P. Flanagan to actually win that election cycle (only to lose to Rod Blagojevich come the 1996 cycle).

Is Brian Woodworth the next Mike Flanagan?

I just don’t see it, particularly since there were other circumstances that made that ’94 election cycle one likely to favor Republican candidates (and create the first GOP congressman from Chicago since the late 1960s).

BY COMPARISON, THIS year’s election cycle is shaping up in ways that Barack Obama will continue to be a strong influence in Illinois – we love him here in ways that the rest of the nation does not, particularly when you get into the Chicago area.

Which works to his advantage.

I have amongst my collection of campaign trinkets throughout the years a mailing that Jackson sent to people in the Illinois Second Congressional district back in 2004 – one advising him of his support for this “Obama” guy for the U.S. Senate.

Jackson support helped Obama emerge from the pack of candidates to win that cycle.

FLANAGAN: Chicago's last GOP congressman



This year, Obama returns the political favor by stirring up enough district voters to ensure that the Kankakee County part of the district will not generate enough votes to oppose Jr.

WHICH IS WHY I still see a Jackson victory – no matter how much anyone wants to believe that these latest reports are the political “kiss of death” for the son of the civil rights leader.

I suspect many people in the Illinois Second Congressional District will cast their ballots for “Democrat,” thereby placing their faith in the party structure to pick a congressional replacement should circumstances wind up that Jackson does have to depart.

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What would Lars Daly think?

Robert Marshall is a physician from suburban Burr Ridge, and he once served a four-year stint as a village trustee in his hometown.

Yet to political observers, Marshall will be remembered for something else. He’s a perennial candidate. Every four years, his name turns up as he runs for an elective office.

WE, THE PEOPLE of the great state of Illinois, have had the chance to choose Marshall to be our state’s governor, our senator in Washington, and one of our congressmen (if we happened to vote in the west suburban district that includes Burr Ridge).

Marshall has not even limited himself to a single political party. Most of his campaigns have sought the Republican Party nomination. Yet of late, he calls himself a Democrat. Perhaps he sees the same trend that most other Illinoisans do and doesn’t see a point to being a Republican.

This election cycle won’t be any exception.

Marshall is one of several candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, wanting to replace Roland Burris after his term ends next year.

SO THOSE PEOPLE who are so disgusted with the mainstream candidates that they can’t bring themselves to vote for any of them (in this case, Cheryle Jackson, David Hoffman and Alexi Giannoulias) can now pick Marshall, whose views on social issues are somewhat to the right of center, but apparently not so far right that he identifies any longer with the GOP.

This isn’t even the first time Marshall has sought the Senate. He ran in the Republican Party primary in 1996, getting 5 percent of the vote in losing to Al Salvi, who ultimately lost the general election that year to now-Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Admittedly, Marshall has his bragging moment – the one time he ran in a general election (1998 for Congress from the Illinois 3rd District), he got 27 percent of the vote. Now-retired Rep. Bill Lipinski, D-Ill., took the remaining 73 percent.

But Marshall is likely to run the same type of campaign this year as he has in the past. He’ll pop out of the woodwork on a couple of occasions to claim that our elected officials are negligent on certain issues, and he will serve to hold the more serious political candidates accountable.

PERSONALLY, I’M CURIOUS to hear what Marshall will say about the bumbling manner in which officials are handling health care reform. I’d expect it will be his chief talking point as he works his way to another 5 percent of the vote come the Feb. 2 primary election.

Not that Marshall is the only perennial candidate who filed nominating petitions with the Illinois State Board of Elections to get a place on the 2010 primary ballot.

William “Dock” Walls III is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor, for those of us who don’t like the idea of Pat Quinn or Dan Hynes.

His actual experience was a job on the Chicago city payroll (“Confidential Assistant to the Mayor” was the actual title) back in the days of Harold Washington as mayor.

IN RECENT YEARS, he has run bids for Chicago mayor and for Congress, challenging Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. Rush kicked Walls’ butt, which means that Walls has one thing in common with Barack Obama – who also once got an Election Day beat down from the one-time Black Panther.

Candidates like Marshall and Walls are on the ballot every year, using the access to Election Day ballots to give themselves a chance to express their views on the issues. Once the election passes, they go back to their daily lives until the next election cycle.

There’s also another type of perennial candidate – one who takes on the same opposition every Election Day.

That is the category in which one should place Rev. Anthony Williams. The resident of suburban Dolton has run several campaigns against Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. He has run in Democratic primaries and as a Republican.

THIS TIME, HE has filed nominating petitions to be the Green Party’s nominee for member of Congress from the Illinois 2nd District.

Williams’ line has been consistent through all his campaigns. He does not like the idea of Jackson as his member of Congress, and he wants to give people who live in the far South Side and surrounding suburbs district a chance to vote for somebody else.

It helps that in past elections he had the support of the Shaw brothers, of whom Bob is now running for Cook County assessor in the next election cycle. He claims to no longer have their active support, but he’s still an outspoken Jackson critic.

Another potential perennial is someone like Daniel Seals of Wilmette, who in recent elections has challenged Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who has indicated he wants to move up this time to the U.S. Senate. Seals, who gave Kirk a competitive campaign last time, now wants the to-be-abandoned seat, but faces a serious challenger in the form of state Rep. Julie Hamos, D-Evanston.

THEN, THERE ARE candidates like Patrick J. Ryan of Chicago, who is running for an Illinois House of Representatives’ seat from the Southwest Side. He has run for the same seat in several recent elections.

The occupant of that seat? Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago.

Which means that Ryan is likely to remain a perennial candidate even after the 2010 elections, just like Williams and Marshall and all the rest.

But of course, all of these people pale in comparison to Lars "America First" Daly, the Illinois native who ran for so many offices during the mid-20th Century, including president, usually on the Tax Cut Party ticket. None of the 21st Century perennial candidates is about to don an "Uncle Sam" suit on the campaign trail like ol' Lars used to.

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