Don Manzullo is my Congressman. He's been in office since 1993. He is a Republican's Republican, and we have never been able to find a candidate strong enough to beat him. I don't doubt that there are Democrats in the 16th who could, but they seem to not want the job.
Bob Abboud ran against him last time around. Manzullo won with 61% of the vote. Abboud was a horrible candidate for a few reasons. He was vague on issues such as abortion. He promised his canvassers that he would pay them $500 per week, and ran out of money in July. He pissed off the Young Democrats of Winnebago County by saying that they were only interested in money and that it was a waste of time to join the organization). His only ads were aired within a week of the general election. He spent most of his time in the only (partially) televised debate of the cycle attacking Manzullo without really offering any substance. Most of his campaign was "Hey, Manzullo sucks, so vote for me. I'm not him!"
More after the jump
Here's the killer thing: Manzullo does suck. He's fucking horrible. He's got a 0% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Human Rights Campaign, the Campaign for America's Future (the energy independence guys. Why does Manzullo love Hugo CHavez?), the League of Conservation Voters, Peace Action, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He also received low ratings from the NAACP, the ACLU, NORML, the NEA, the AFL-CIO, the APHA (American Public Health Association), the ARA (Alliance of Retired Americans), and CTJ (Citizens for Tax Justice). He wants to ban flag burning, mandate school prayer, and sees nothing wrong with "under God" remaining in the Pledge of Allegiance. He's voted against increasing the minimum wage, outlawing workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, and for more funding for education.
I want to kick Manzullo out of office. I'd sell my soul to Karl Rove to do it. The problem is this: I don't want to replace him with a "Democrat" who has pulled a Republican ballot for every primary. I don't want to replace him with a "Democrat" who offers little in the way of substantive policy differences on anything but energy (Bob "could talk about energy all day." That was his big thing). I also don't want a Democrat on the ballot if that Democrat is going to drain resources from the county parties that could be used in local and state races. Every volunteer for Abboud's abortive campaign was a volunteer that wasn't working for a state representative or state senate campaign, or a county board, or other county office campaign. Every dollar that the local parties spent helping Abboud was a dollar that could have been spent helping someone like my friend Clint Little, who worked his ass off and still lost to a douchebag incumbent.
My options look rather limited as of right now, I guess... I am considering running for Congress. I'm young. I'm broke. I have no higher education of any kind, and I'm a relatively recent convert to the Democratic Party. I used to be a libertarian Republican (Ron Paul, without the crazy racism), but I saw the damage that deregulation was doing before the markets went into a tailspin and decided that the Democratic Party was the only option for me. My chances of winning the primary are slim to none, but I feel that I need to do something. Anyone have any tips on how to run an effective campaign on the cheap?