Saturday, March 8, 2008

"Illinois 14th" shows how little I know

This is one time I don’t mind being wrong. It was a nauseating thought that dairy owner-turned-political dreamer James Oberweis could actually win election to a seat in Congress.

As it is, I find it disturbing that he came as close as he did (48 percent, with 96 percent of the votes counted), and that there obviously is a sizable chunk of the population that thinks someone of Oberweis’ ilk makes a credible candidate for public office.

IT IS A vocal minority, and it is one that likely will go all out to try to win in November -- when the two candidates go at each other again. A bit better organization (or perhaps a less abrasive candidate), and the GOP would be celebrating victory in the Illinois 14th congressional district special election.

I think state Sen. Chris Lauzen of Aurora could have won that congressional seat, both in the special election and in the November general election. Too bad the Republicans in the far west suburban/rural northern Illinois district didn’t nominate him.

Some Democrats are inclined to think some high-minded goal was achieved with Bill Foster’s victory. “This says there is no district that is going to be safe for Republicans,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., told WGN-TV.

I’m not swayed.

FOSTER HAD BETTER be careful, or else he could be the one whose political career lasts little more than filling out the leftover crumbs of retiring Rep. J. Dennis Hastert’s term – which runs through early January 2009. After all, Oberweis has the funding to run a top-notch aggressive campaign, and he has shown a willingness to play political hardball.

That hardball style of campaigning will forevermore be Oberweis’ political legacy – particularly The Commercial.

It was the ad from a past U.S. Senate campaign where he flies over Chicago’s Soldier Field and tries to create the image of capacity crowds of illegal immigrants packing their way into the United States week after week after week.

While he did not do anything so blatantly offensive in this campaign, he still kept up the talk on the immigration issue. He clearly wanted to get the votes of the people who have a fear of continued newcomers to this country, and who view the eastern end of the suburban/rural district with suspicion (Aurora is developing a significant Hispanic population).

I'D LIKE TO think it was a sudden turnout of Latino voters who decided to keep the “milk dud” (as former Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka so wonderfully dubbed Oberweis when he ran against her in the 2006 Illinois gubernatorial primary) from winning an election.

It probably wasn’t. But it would be a nice image. And it is that growing population that will make it impossible for someone like Oberweis to even come close to winning in future years.

Two final thoughts on the outcome of the special election.

I WILL GIVE Oberweis some praise for not dragging out the evening. He made his concession call to Foster and made his public statement prior to 9 p.m.

And I would urge Foster to keep in mind just why so many people had a problem with Oberweis. In some ways, Foster is no better. It’s not like Saturday’s results were some great moral victory.

Foster was just as willing to play politics with the immigration issue and try to appeal to the same people whose votes Oberweis desired. His rhetoric doesn’t exactly make him a friend of the people who most wanted Oberweis to lose. Without a change in his political outlook, he’ll be no better than Oberweis.

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