I caught about 5 minutes of Meet the Press yesterday. It was only 5 minutes because I got so angry, I had to change the channel. Between Huckabee going on and on about how much of a maverick and non-traditional Republican McCain is with almost no challenge, and the best Democrat they could find being Harold Ford JR, I couldn't take watching it.
Harold Ford talked about what Democrats need to do to win. He decided to state that the Travis Childers victory was because he ran a more conservative campaign, and urged Obama to do the same. He also brought up the race I worked on, IL-14. (though not by name. He referred to it as "What happened recently in Illinois.)
Now, I worked for John Laesch, the progressive in that race, who ran against Blue Dog Bill Foster. As we all know, Foster won that primary. He won it by less than 400 votes out of 75,000 votes cast. Can this be chalked up to the "fact" that this is a conservative district and that only a conservative Democrat can win here? Or, is it maybe the fact that John was outspent 15:1? What does it say for conservative Democrats that a Blue Dog had to spend millions to get a <0.5% victory over a progressive who spent around $150.000? Harold Ford and the rest of the conservatives seem to conveniently forget how money factored into this race.</p>
And what has Mr. Foster, our heroic Democratic representative, been doing? Apparently, cozying up to Republican lobbyists. He recently hired former St. Charles mayor Sue Klinkhamer as his district director. What's so special about that, you may ask? Klinkhamer was the Republican mayor of St. Charles. When, in 2005, she failed to win re-election for her third term, she looked to Washington DC and Chicago. She worked as a Republican lobbyist in DC for the City of Chicago.
In many diaries, I have seen people lament about Kossacks demonizing Blue Dogs. The above is exactly why we do. Of all the wonderful Democrats I have met in this district who know the entire district like the back of their hands because they have walked it countless times, he chooses a Republican lobbyist. I think Democrats can do better than this.
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I tried looking for a number or email form to contact Bill Foster, but there was no contact information on his website, and the House of Representatives website still has Hastert listed as the representative. I'm not sure if the contact numbers are the same or not. The House Switchboard number is (202)224-3121. They should be able to put you in touch with Mr. Foster's office.
UPDATE: Thanks Oldengrey for Foster's contact information. I found the link for his contact information by accident when I went back to check. There must be some kind of bug with the site. I can't see a contact link unless I hover over the apparently black space under the "home" link. So, here's his contact info:
2304 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2976
27 North River Street
Batavia, IL 60510
(630) 406-1114
119 W. First Street
Dixon, IL 61021
(815) 288-0680