I woke up today in my Peoria, Illinois, home to be greeted with the news that Democrats' freshly minted Lt. Gov. nominee was arrested in a domestic violence case back in 2005; when he slammed his then-girlfriend's head against a wall and put a knife to her throat. And did I mention she was a prostitute? But he had an excuse. He apparently had an erratic temper due to injecting steroids, which may be the reason he would blow up and threaten to give his wife (yes, apparently he was married around the same time) STDs from the women he'd been sleeping around with (and had even brought home to their bed).
Nice work, Democrats. Scott Lee Cohen, a pawn shop owner, won the Lt. Gov. race because he outspent all comers. He even paid lawyers $20K to challenge all his opponents petitions to see if he could get anyone knocked off the ballot. Cohen says he has no intention of stepping down. He claims this arrest story's been out there, so that means no one in the Democratic Party checked it out? Was it because they hoped he could self-finance the general election campaign? Is everything about money? What incompetence!
God, this is embarrassing. Incompetence at every level. In the congressional race here in Peoria a local guy, a Gulf War veteran with years of experience in business, who was running a heartfelt campaign focussing on the plight of working Americans was pushed aside by the party for their hand-picked candidate: a lobbyist for the state's biggest polluters, a lobbyist that just moved to Illinois from Missouri and still doesn't even live in the district. The reason they liked her so much? Money. She promised she could raise over $1 million (so far, she's raised about $25K). She could raise $10 million and it wouldn't make up for not living here.
Great job, Democrats! Our governor doesn't get to pick his running mate, so now he's saddled with a hooker beater. Back in the 80's, a LaRouche follower managed to win the Lt. Gov. race and sank the ticket. The then gubernatorial nominee, Adlai Stevenson III, tried to get them kicked off the ticket, but lost the case so there's no doubt our current governor, Pat Quinn, is stuck. Quinn had a tough race already, now it's a trainwreck.
Democrats currently hold every state constitutional office. After Rod, we knew it would be a tough election, now we're sure to get thumped on every level.
I just hope the Democratic Party where you live isn't this inept.
UPDATED: A new post in an Illinois blog details some more niceties such as Cohen owing back child support and going on TV to admit to injecting steroids and "that his wife had an order of protection against him in 2005".