I am Kristen Lash, the blog team coordinator for John Laesch for US Congress. We are in Chicago right now. In 3 and a half short hours, we will be meeting with Howie Klein and other bloggers of firedoglake to do a video blog. John is officially announcing his candidacy to the blogosphere tonight. Join us at 3 PM CST on firedoglake.com for a live blogging session.
For an overview of John's positions, you can visit the website at www.john08.com and read below the fold for a summary of a speech he gave to the DeKalb County Dems on Thursday.
John's speech, as always (at least imho), was very passionate. He talked first about great leaders such as Mike Noland, an IL state Senator. He ran and lost in 2002. He ran again in 2004, and lost by a mere 400 votes. The state party wrote him off, but he kept going. He won his 2006 bid for the seat, previously held by ultra right winger Steve Rauschenberger.
As a freshman Senator, Mike Noland has already stood up to vote for education funding reform that provides equal funding for Illinois schools and much needed property tax relief. Noland went further; pulling one of the gutsiest political moves we have ever seen. John attended a recent town hall meeting that Noland hosted on immigration reform. Noland held the meeting in Carpentersville, the eye of the storm for anti-immigrant hate in the state of Illinois. Gutsy progressive Democrat – that is what we need.
I believe John is that gutsy progressive Democrat.
Why is the Democratic Party in Washington D.C. pandering to the 26% of this country that still sides with Rush Limbaugh and George Bush? Why are we not reaching out to the 74% of this country that wants new leadership, a plan out of Iraq?
I think that 74% of America would vote for the Democratic Party if we told people that we were going to make healthcare for every single American. I think that 74% of the country would vote is tired of being the dwindling middle class that is scraping to get by while corporate America is making record profits. I am willing to write the 26% of Rush Limbaugh supporters off and represent the majority of this country.
It is not enough to have a majority, we need a progressive majority.
That sums it up for me. This is the kind of person we need as a representative in the 14th, a district that has been plagued for over 2 decades with Dennis Hastert. We need a breath of fresh air.
The district is most definitely trending blue. After the campaign, John did some number/data crunching. Here's some of the numbers on how each county in the district is trending. These are the percentages that the dems got for this seat in each county in 02, 04, and 06 respectively.
Henry: 32, 32, 41
Whiteside: 41, 46, 52
Bureau: 36, 32, 42
Lee: 25, 25, 38
DeKalb: 29, 36, 42
Dupage: 24, 31, 39
Kendall: 17, 23, 34
Kane (with Aurora township included): 26, 32, 41
Given these trends and the current mood of the country as a whole, we could pull off a democratic victory in this district. John has been making calls for fundraising and support, and all response has been positive. We are looking forward to an exciting race.
Remember, join us at 3PM CST on firedoglake.com for John's official announcement to the blogosphere!