IL-13 is a race that nobody is watching because nobody seems to think there's anything to see. The district is among the reddest in Illinois, having been in Republican hands since 1903. Its biggest claim to fame is that it was once represented by none other than former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, who held the seat from 1963 through 1969.
If you're not interested in a race that Democrats cannot realistically win, move on. But don't think there's nothing to see here.
Our guy in this race is Scott Harper. I'm going to let Scott introduce himself in this video here, which was shot at a talk he gave to IBEW local 701 last month:
Please just watch the whole thing; I couldn't do justice to Scott by paraphrasing him or blockquoting my favorite parts.
There's more about Scott on his website. Scott has lived in this district all of his life. Scott has been a successful small businessman, an Oxford University scholar, and a college professor. Among other things, he teaches a class on ethics (is that something our congressfolk need to know a bit more about?).
Scott's Republican opponent in the race is Judy Biggert, a garden variety, Chamber of Commerce Republican who has held the seat since 1998. Biggert is not the most conservative member of the U.S. House, according to people who keep track of such things, which is probably why she held on to her seat against Scott Harper in 2008. President Obama won the 13th district then by a margin of 54 - 45%, despite having gone for Bush by roughly the same margins in 2000 and 2004.
This doesn't mean she should get a pass. Not by a long shot. Republicans like Biggert continue to be elected, year after year, in districts like mine, because people are comfortable with them. Biggert doesn't do anything controversial or worthy of national attention, say, like Michele Bachmann. However, it's people like Biggert who enable Bachmann and the other aspiring, dangerous lunatics who are hell-bent on saving the U.S. from government by destroying it from within. As moderate as Biggert and those like her seem to be, they do nothing to discourage this behavior in their ranks - which is why we need good Democrats like Scott Harper to make an effort to unseat them.
Scott is running a solid campaign despite the extreme odds, and despite the fact that Biggert has outraised him by more than 2:1. If Scott is supposed to lose, he isn't acting like it. The yard sign polling around my neighborhood and elsewhere in the district is giving him better odds than the pollsters - the race hasn't been polled since June, and he's sent out a couple of great brochures. Indeed, if yard signs are any indication, he's far more popular in IL-13 than Mark Kirk, who is remarkably conspicuous by his absence. Whenever I see a cluster of signs supporting Brady and Biggert and some of the local candidates, it seems like Kirk is just nowhere to be found.
I believe it's possible, though very unlikely, that Scott can win this race. Obama carried IL-13 by a comfortable margin in 2008, indicating the district is not as conservative as the GOP would like. Republicans here seem to be particularly apathetic this cycle. Kirk inspires no one, and Brady is hardly a firebrand, either. Independents are pissed off at incumbents, and any undecided voter who takes a good look at Scott Harper will see a man of integrity, not just another career politician.
If he wins, it will be a win for the good guys. One of the very best, in fact.
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