Above are the current crop of possible replacement candidates for Jack "Sex Club" Ryan that the Illinios GOP will be interviewing today, as per this AP story.
Certain GOP leaders say they still hadn't settled on one name and new names were being added to the mix. Indeed, the name of former
Maryland Senate candidate and Presidential candidate Alan Keyes keeps popping up. How and why? Is he now a resident of the State of Illinois? What are Illinois' residency laws? Are they as liberal as New York's, which of course allowed Hillary Clinton to run?
And if Illinois laws are so open so as to allow an out-of-stater to run, then why limit yourself to Alan Keyes? Surely there are better Republicans out there?
Alas, we are left with the Magnificent Seven above.
Cook County Board member Elizabeth Doody Gorman.
From her biography:
Born on February 19, 1965, Commissioner Gorman is the second of four children raised by Carolyn and Larry Doody in their modest bungalow on the southwest side of Chicago. Liz graduated from Mother McAuley High School and went on to receive a degree in marketing from Saint Mary's College in Minnesota.
Liz returned home and began her career in business. Thriving in the competative world of small business and personal insurance sales, and later creating her own insurance agency, which she still manages today.
In 1993, Liz married Gerald Gorman and together they are currently raising their three sons, Conor, Liam and Shane in their Orland Park home.
Since Liz was elected to the Cook County Board to represent the 17th District, it has been her goal to put into action, a district wide advisory board that she would stay in constant contact with to develop a closer relationship to each individual municipality and the needs of the constituents of those municipalities.
Dairy owner Jim Oberweis
From the above site:
James D. Oberweis, In addition to a B.A. from UIUC, also earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. While he began his career as a junior high school teacher in 1968, in 1970 he became a stockbroker with a large retail brokerage firm. Mr. Oberweis then went on to manage a branch for a N.Y.S.E. member firm. In 1976 he developed The Oberweis Report, a monthly investment advisory newsletter specializing in emerging growth companies. This gave Mr. Oberweis the opportunity to implement and monitor a model portfolio, developing one of the best track records in the industry. In 2000 the Hulbert Financial Digest rated The Oberweis Report in the top five of all stock investment advisory letters.
In 1978 he and his wife, Elaine, founded their own brokerage and investment management firm. In 1986 he purchased the 60 year-old family business, Oberweis Dairy. He then started the "Oberweis Emerging Growth Fund" and has been President and Portfolio Manager since its inception in 1987. In 1996 the "Oberweis Micro-Cap Portfolio" and "Oberweis Mid-Cap Portfolio" were added. In 1997, along with his son and other partners, he started Oberweis.net, Inc. (since renamed Oberweis Securities), an on-line trading and full service stock brokerage firm.
Mr. Oberweis was the host of the TV show "Catching Winners Early" which appeared weekly on Financial News Network for three years and appeared on "Ask an Expert" in Chicago for over twenty-five years. He has been interviewed on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and various other television stations. He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Fortune, Money Magazine, and a variety of other financial periodicals.
Mr. Oberweis is currently President of the Oberweis Funds and Chairman of the Board of both Oberweis Asset Management and Oberweis Dairy. He is past President of the University of Chicago Executive Program Alumni Association, the Illinois Chess Association and The Oberweis Foundation. Also, he has served as a trustee of the Compassion Foundation, the American Chess Foundation, the U.S. Chess Trust, and the Prestbury Citizens Association. He has served as a director of both public and private corporations and the Chicago Presidents' Organization. In 2002, after receiving the endorsement of the Speaker of the House, J. Dennis Hastert, Mr. Oberweis was a candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate.
Chicago attorney John Cox
Again, from the site:
He is a Radio Talk Show Host.
Cox won third-place with 23 percent in last year's senate primary, beaten by Oberweis with 31.5 percent and the winner Jim Durkin with 46.
Cox said he won't fund his campaign out of pocket, only saying he will put in "a lot less" than the $1,022,507 he pumped into his failed 2002 Senate campaign.
Favorite pig-out food: "Ice cream. Love ice cream--not Oberweis'."
Retired Air Force General John Borling
John Borling, of Rockford Illinois, is Chairman of Performance Consulting Group (PCG), an integrated energy services company, providing conservation solutions to larger private and public entities. He is a retired Air Force Major General and brings worldwide executive experience at highest levels of staff and command to identify and further strategy, planning and business objectives for the company. He is the potential Illinois Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and has formed an exploratory committee to that end with a view to a formal announcement in the Labor Day time frame.
Former Bush administration deputy drug czar Andrea Grubb Barthwell
Dr. Barthwell has focused her career on reducing substance abuse and its impact on America's communities. She understands the devastating impact drug abuse inflicts on our communities and the necessity for a balanced drug policy that is rooted in science.
As the top White House drug abuse prevention and treatment official, she will discuss ways to bring innovative, leading-edge care to the members of society who need it most.
Physician-turned-businessman Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria
He was born in New Delhi, India, has lived in DuPage since childhood. Launched of Medical Oasis Inc., positioned to become the premier chain of diagnostic imaging centers in the nation, to MirCorp, which became the first company to privately launch and fund space programs (sending the first citizen explorer, Dennis Tito, into space), and which is building the world's first private space station.
Farm radio commentator Orion Samuelson
The best-known agricultural broadcaster in the country, Orion Samuelson has been heard over WGN since 1960 providing the Midwest farmer with agricultural news and information.
Born on a dairy farm near La Crosse WI, Samuelson considered becoming a Lutheran Pastor before deciding on six months of radio school instead. He spent his first eight years in Wisconsin at WKLJ/Sparta and later became program director for Appleton's WHBY. Prior to being named farm service director for WGN, Samuelson served as farm director of WBAY and WBAY-TV in Green Bay. Today Samuelson is heard over a syndicate of 260 stations airing his National Farm Report daily and with Samuelson Sez, a weekly series allowing Samuelson to offer opinions and observations on the agricultural community. Since 1975, he has produced and hosted U.S. Farm Report, a weekly television program seen on 190 Midwest stations.