It doesn't seem to have hit too many radars yet, but I really think the race in Illinois Congressional District 18 is gonna be tight! This is a district that has been Republican held since the 1940s, as I diaried the other day, going back as far as I could research without taking too much time out of my workday. Since 1949 at least.
Jane Harman in CA-36 and her SecureUS PAC is hosting a fundraiser for several "moderate-style Democrats who have an interest in national security issues." I have to give the hat tip to a local blogger on this one, Peoria Pundit broke this story to me.
Though click hereif you want it from the horse's mouth, and that would be PolitickerCA.
Red to blue, my friend, red to blue for IL 18.
So many around this country think of Peoria as a small, conservative, blue collar/farming city (aside from the ubiquitous "will it play" phrase). Sure, we have our fair share of scary uber-right wingers. But if you want a good cross section, the local paper, the Peoria Journal Star, front paged a story today about the President coming to Peoria for a fundraiser for Aaron Schock - Colleen Callahan's Republican opponent. Skip the article, but scroll down for the comments (i'm in there myself //hair flip). Folks are weighing in pretty heavily against W! Even a few republicans weighing in aren't all that excited about Bush.
Callahan gets pulled into the argument many times.
I'd like to bring to Kossack attention that she runs a family farm and was the ag reporter on a local radio station here for 20 some years. She is very, very familiar to farmers who got up at 5am listening to her reports for 20 years. She has a superb "in" with typically republican rural communities that Schock doesn't, and IL 18 is nothing if not a LOT of rural farmland.
This is the year, baby, for IL-18 to go Dem! Possibly for the first time in a bleeding century!