Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet has a must-read column today (Monday) contrasting Tammy Duckworth and Christine Cegelis events in IL-6 over the weekend:
http://www.suntimes.com/...
highlights after the flip
It was snowing Sunday afternoon, and cold in north suburban Roselle, so I concede upfront that the weather impacted the turnout at a "family fun festival" campaign event for Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth.
There is a saying in politics: If you want a big crowd, book a small room. The classroom in the basement of a Roselle Park District building at 555 Byrn Mawr had space to spare.
During the course of more than an hour, no more than 20 adults showed up, not counting Duckworth staff and children, and I may be overestimating the size of the crowd.
It's not that the Duckworth campaign did not try to round up folks; I was hanging around her storefront headquarters in a Lombard strip mall Saturday afternoon, and I listened as about six volunteers spent hours making calls to drum up a Sunday audience.....
...without any substantial ground operation, how can Duckworth win?...
On Saturday morning, Cegelis had quite an organized canvassing operation going on in the Des Plaines headquarters of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
About 150 volunteers were stuffing campaign kits. They had lists of voters all ready, and the volunteers were dispatched to walk precincts....
For pictures and an idea what Christine's event was like, click here: http://www.cegelisforcongress.com/...
At her rally, Cegelis explained that she began running for the seat in 2003 because her children, now in their 20s, don't have the same opportunities that she enjoyed when she came out of college and she wants to go to Washington to change that.
When people ask her why she persists in this race despite everything that's being thrown against her, Cegelis said "because you should never underestimate what a mother will do for her children." That line brought the house down!
You know, if the DCCC et al. put the kind of effort behind USMC Major Paul Hackett's bid to defeat a vicious right-wing Republican (Jean Schmidt) in his special election last August that they are putting behind Duckworth's bid to defeat a progressive Democrat in this primary, we'd already have one less Republican seat in the House. Makes you wonder what their priorities really are, doesn't it?!
I would also like to highlight Sweet's comment about about Cegelis volunteers "stuffing campaign kits." We weren't just piling on literature for Christine, we were packaging the IVI-IPO (Independent Voters of Illinois) tabloid (with recommendations for progressive candidates up and down the ballot, including Christine) with literature for State Senate candidate Dan Kotowski, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District candidate Debra Shore (only candidate endorsed by the Sierra Club), and Cook County Circuit Court candidate Martha Mills (only candidate this year rated "Highly Qualified" by the Chicago Council of Lawyers), among others. These packets were to be given to voters in Elk Grove Township along with Cegelis's own "door knocker."
The reason we did this is that Christine is part of a whole progressive, good government movement. As Cegelis said Saturday, "this thing is bigger than just me."
Isn't this what grassroots Democrats are supposed to be doing for each other?! Anyone think Duckworth and her people will lift a finger to help worthy Democratic candidates in the area?
Finally, on a local blog, IL-6 resident "Michael in Chicago" posted the following comment:
Political mercenaries for Duckworth.
This quote in Sweet's article from William Brandt, who chairs Duckworth's finance committee, has really got me angry (emphasis mine):
But without any substantial ground operation, how can Duckworth win?
Said Brandt, "We have garnered the resources sufficient to give her the troops she needs for the ground war."
Translation: Duckworth's resources (aka: money) are sufficient (aka: big money) to give (aka: buy) her the ground troops she needs. First paid petition passers. Now paid canvassers too!?
I read this as Brandt is essentially saying that Duckworth has raised enough money that she doesn't need the support of those from the district. Duckworth has enough "resources" that they can "give her the troops" to do what residents of the district are volunteering to do for Cegelis.
For a campaign representative to actually give a quote like this in a major newspaper, essentially touting campaign's ability to put paid boots on the ground to overcome local volunteers the Cegelis campaign is attracting is astounding. The arrogance is astounding.
What type of representation do we want in DC? Do we to be represented by people who use their "resources" to provide ground troops, or do we want to be represented by a candidate who has an army of willing and dedicated volunteers from the community working to elect someone from their community?
I wholeheartedly agree with Michael's comments.
--Jim in Chicago