The Illinois 14th should be quite a raucous ride this year even if Da Coach decides to call it quits. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times has the scoop. I suppose one could wonder why they voted for Denny last year if it was inevitable he would not be speaker, and very likely he retire early, but sometimes the logic of Republican masses mystify my mind. Details on some of the other characters running again are below. The Illinois 14 used to be a Republican stronghold. Thanks to the large massive incompetence of the party of Bush and people like John Laesch pointing such things out I doubt it will be again.
Added note: After beginning writing this I have discovered that Downtowner has already blogged about these three particular videos and you can read her blog as well. Due to the fact that I have a different style, and will take on a different perspective I will continue. Beat me to the punch.
So far 3 Democrats have filed with the FEC in the Illinois 14. Perhaps I should start with he who has a name that sounds most like mine.
John Laesch
Watch this video to catch John speaking at a recent fundraiser. I am not going to tell you what John said his political opponents were doing with their smile muscles, but maybe you can ask John. It is fair to say though, that some of the big business democrats don't particularly want John's message to sell. Keep this in mind about 2006. Growing up in Illinois 14 there was one party in town. To be a good Christian was to be Republican. To be a good citizen was to be a good Christian. The democratic party was nonexistent or at the very least, a fringe element prior to 2006.
Bill Foster
So far out of the three declared candidates for the primary challenge, Bill Foster looks like the most serious competition for John Laesch. As you can see on his website he also will be attending Yearly Kos. (Although I would love to go, I will be unable to attend due to obligations.) There are several reasons why I cite him as the most serious challenger to John. None, of them have anything at all to do with his extremely flat lined speech that was less than awe inspiring that Downtowner already blogged about or you can see again here.
The obvious answer is money, but I will talk about that later, but truth be known both reasons revolve around money. I was going to deliberate into the content of both Bill Foster's and Jotham Stein's website, but I am going to pass for the moment for fear of cluttering this diary.
Jotham Stein
You can watch his video here.
He says some interesting things in his pitch and with some of them I agree. Debates, and primaries do benefit the democratic party as a whole. I do not know if John is planning to debate Mr. Stein or Mr. Foster, but I would encourage him to do so. I think he made a rookie mistake by not pitching his stump speech, but that kind of thing happens. Next I am going to look at the money.
You can compare the money on the FEC Mr. Stein has a broad base of support financially across the country, but that doesn't automatically translate into support in district. He also has a debt of 28,690 dollars. Subtracting this from his current cash pile leaves him with between four and five grand. That being said, I realize those numbers are from the 30 June filing deadline and might not be current.
Bill Foster has a lot of money. He also has a lot of people who donate with the last name Foster. Money being the mother's milk of politics this gives him an added edge. Having family members that support him early on could also be an indicator of things to come for his campaign. I remember early on in John's last campaign that the vast majority of his reported contributors were actually John's Friends. I even called him once and remarked
Who would have imagined that the Friend's of John Laesch were actually the friends of John Laesch?
I know what your saying? John has raised the least amount of dollars. How does he stand a chance again? Campaign! Campaign! Campaign!
I promised you the race will be a riot. I would tell you, but I know you kosians love to do some homework. Can you tell me if Chris Lauzen has possibly said anything ridiculously funny or unfocused in his political life?
Perhaps, I know something I am not sharing, but I look forward to watching the man eat his own leg and swallow his foot.
Update It seems I had a few bad links in the original format. Thank you for pointing them out. I am not sure of the reason but for some reason the FEC website wouldn't properly embed itself as an already executed search. I am not up on the finer points of this but I have put in new links which should take you to the search reports stage of the FEC website. Merely, putting in 14 for the district and selecting Illinois for the state should yield the summary of all candidates Democratic and Republican. My apologies.