Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

I met Adam Andrzejewski at the Champaign County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner last year.  He was a nice guy, but I never thought he had much of a chance in his race for Governor.  He ran relatively quietly under the radar for most of the election, polling generally in low single digits.

Then, he did something rather brilliant.  He convinced a number of non-Illinois conservative leaders that he was THE tea party candidate for Illinois and created a little bit of a national boomlet.  Red State, Gateway, Instapundit, and Geraghty all touted Adam as the Tea Party candidate. It culminated the day before the election when Rush Limbaugh called him the next Scott Brown. 

Andrzejewski was certainly A tea party candidate, but the suggestion that somehow he was THE ONLY one with a grip on those people who would associate themselves with the tea party movement was ill informed.  And no one should take his 14% total as reflecting the state of the tea party movement in Illinois.  In declining degrees, I'd say that Proft, Brady, and McKenna could all comfortably wrap themselves around the less taxes, less spending, less regulation efforts of tea party activists.

It's interesting that Limbaugh would call the never-elected Andrzejewski the next Scott Brown.  Brown held three different elected positions.  Chris Christie served as US District Attorney.  Bob McDonnell served as AG in Virginia as well as a number of other positions.

I think it will take a lot more than some nifty reform slogans for candidates to sway Republican primary voters.  At least some degree of public service will still carry signficant weight, and will probably always be required.

At the same time, Andrzejewski's national momentum strategy was brilliant and was executed to perfection. 

Andrzejewski represents a lot of what is encouraging about the future of the Republican Party.  I hope he remains involved.

At first glance, I don't care for it:

Too busy, strange inconsistencies with colors, the user registration requires passage of two different captcha tests, and it's not clear what the benefits of registration actually are. 

Strange organization - why are "opinions" listed under "community?" 

Supposedly columns were going to be included online, and if they are, I can't find them.

Of course, I'm the guy who's been working on a redesign and upgrade of IP.com for more than twelve months, so I have no room to talk.

What do you think?

Monday, February 8, 2010.

Friday, February 5, 2010.

Thursday, February 4, 2010.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010.

I just got back from the Kirk Dillard bunker in Chicago.  More thoughts tomorrow (later today).  Right now I need some sleep.

Discuss to your heart's content.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010.

General Primary Election Day and Groundhog Day. Please remember to vote.

Interesting:

By July, Illinois will be $130,000,000,000 (that’s BILLION!) in debt. This crushing load hampers the state’s ability to fund public schools and universities, health care, and other essential public services. Most of that money is owed to the state’s pension funds and retiree health care plans. And YOUR SHARE of that debt is $25,000 per household.

How did this happen? Basically, Illinois spends $3 for every $2 it takes in. Only in Springfield is this kind of math possible. The state accomplishes this by borrowing or by simply ignoring its unpaid bills. And it has been doing so for years.

I think this is part of the $1 million campaign the Civic Fed pledged to run to highlight the sad state of Illinois finances.

What are your predictions for tomorrow's Primary elections?

I'll refrain from predicting a GOP winner, as I'm too closely involved, but for the rest mine are:

Dem Governor:

• Hynes - 54 percent
• Quinn - 46 percent

GOP Senate:

• Mark Kirk - 72 percent
• Pat Hughes - 12 percent
• Others - 16 percent

Dem Senate:

• Giannoulias - 41 percent
• Hoffman - 29 percent
• Jackson - 25 percent
• Others - 5 percent

What are your predictions?  What other races have caught your attention?

Monday, February 1, 2010.

Friday, January 29, 2010.

Sweet:

"After watching the debates and seeing all the snide remarks, I just thought better (of staying neutral).

"I've worked with Kirk Dillard. He learned, regardless of what people think about Jim Edgar, he has the highest approval rating of any governor in Illinois history, he learned how to say 'no.' Remember how (House Speaker Michael) Madigan basically called him Governor No?

"I think Kirk Dillard can look you in the eye and say no, too."

And:

Jason Barickman, chairman of the Champaign County Republican Party and a Brady supporter, said Dillard will be helped by Black's endorsement.

"Bill's a very popular political figure in this area," Barickman said. "It would be hard to say that anyone wouldn't benefit from his endorsement."

Brady "will do very well downstate and around Champaign County, said Barickman, "but I would presume that Kirk Dillard may have now become No. 2 here."

(Disclosure: I'm helping the Kirk Dillard for Governor campaign.)

Today's News-Gazette:

The board Wednesday gave the MTD staff approval to look into annexing properties including the Stone Creek subdivision in Urbana, the Boulder Ridge and Sawgrass subdivisions in Champaign, areas north of Interstate 74 in Champaign and Urbana including Frasca Field, a commercial area north of Interstate Research Park in Champaign, a new addition to the Myra Ridge subdivision in Urbana and a small area in Savoy west of Colbert Park.

In addition to discussing the annexations at next month's meeting, the MTD board would be required to hold a public hearing on each of the proposals, said MTD Director Bill Volk.

Every year in January, Volk said, the MTD assesses whether new areas in the community are eligible for annexation. Under an agreement the transit district has with Champaign, Urbana and Savoy, areas are eligible for annexation if they are contiguous to current MTD boundaries, if they are not taxed as farmland and if they are within the corporate limits of one of the municipalities.

Discuss.

Thursday, January 28, 2010.

Just as a reminder, Obama received contributions from these corporations in his last State Senate run.

Anheuser Busch Companies     
RGMA Inc    
UDV North America INC    
URS Corp    
Walgreens    
Ariel Capital Management    
AstraZeneca    
Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund Inc.    
Bank of America    
Central Illinois Light Company    
Coca-Cola Bottling Co    
CSX Transportation    
Household International Inc.    
Motorola    
Safeway Inc.

And his credibility on campaign finance is limited in my eyes after he broke his promise on public financing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIEiQbQAx4g

And don't take this post as any indication of my opinion on the Citizens United decision.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010.