Excuse me while I push a local race for a bit -- if you don't like these sorts of diaries then
exit now.
Dan Kotowski is a strong progressive from the northwest Chicago 'burbs. He's running in the Illinois State Senate's 33rd District and he doesn't know I'm writing this.
I don't work for him and I've barely been volunteering for him. The Illinois primary is in March 06 so he's simply been laying the groundwork for the past few months and there hasn't been much to volunteer for. When the time comes, I'm sure I will help him out with some time and talent. Right now he's the only candidate on the Dem side.
...more about why he needs us on the flip...
The 33rd is currently represented by
Sen. Dave Sullivan but he is retiring to go into lobbying. Sullivan used to work in the George Ryan secretary of state office -- back when Ryan and Scott Fawell were allegedly (ahem) using the office to their advantage. Sullivan claims amnesia and clams up whenever he's asked about it.
Now, if the local GOP heads can figure out someone to replace Sullivan before the primary he'll likely step down so he can offer that person some advantages of incumbency.
Add this retirement into a potent mix of suburbs that are trending more and more blue with a dash of Illinois GOP incompetence and we've got a much closer race than "pundits" realize. We just need a candidate who will show enough guts to make sure it truly is a race.
I think Dan Kotowski is that candidate. He was planning to run to represent the 33rd, not to run against Sullivan. Kotowski is still in this to win it.
What's my point?
As we showed during the Maj. Hackett campaign, we have a good bit of influence as a roadmap. (As an aside, I say "roadmap" because the blogosphere isn't the vehicle that will get candidates to where they're going and it certainly is not the fuel ($) that will power that vehicle -- none of us is an ATM... but we can help guide the powers that be. That's our role: a roadmap back to progressivism.)
So I'm hoping some of you will join me in lending some early support to a progressive who gets it. I may not agree with every point he makes, but he understands he needs our support just as much as we need his backbone.
Again, I don't work for the guy (I don't even think he has any sort of staff at this point) and all I've done volunteer-wise so far is send him a few news clippings.
But if you believe in the 50 State Strategy and that local races matter too I encourage you all to send him some turkee as a few pats on the back to keep him rolling along. If you aren't interested in that, there are going to be plenty of opportunities to offer time and talent so give him a shout.