out on Oberweis. While I applaud the people who booed Oberweis this week, I don't want to interupt the Republican's annual Lincoln Day Dinner with such tactics. So when Oberweis gets up to speak I've decided to to get up, walk to the furthest exit, and go find TV coverage of the tourney brackets. I'll check back fifteen minutes later and hope that he's done.ÂÂ
 Hope more than a few of you Lincoln Day Dinner attendees will join me.
Good for you Mark. I applaud the courage of your convictions and think a real message could be sent to other candidates that using the tactics that have been employed by Uber-Weiss will backfire.
I hope someone shares your posting with the media, because it is news when a local elected Republican leader annouces ahead of time a plan to walk out on a GOP candidate for statewide office.
Will Anthony R. "Andy Martin" Trigona be there? That I wouldn't walk out on, because I would hate to miss it.
One of the risks that business politicians take is that there political tactics impact their business. I for one no longer buy Heinz products, nor would I ever set foot in an Oberweiss dairy store.
I will be right behind you Mark!
Yes, Oberweis has grouped himself with the loony Andy Martin in his personal, unsubstantiated attacks.
Hey Mark,
This might be worth the price of admission to see, lol. Wouldn't it be funny if all of us left at once?
Wish some media would be there to see it.
Where's that Fax number to channel 15.... LOL
I am with you - 100%.
I will be at the Big Ten Tournament all weekend, but if I am back for the dinner (hopefully not, because that would mean IL is not in the Championship), I will join you, Mark.
He has turned the IL Republican party into a laughing stock....even more than Keyes and Ryan did. His cronyism should not be tolerated.
Good plan Mark. See you in the hall.
"even more than Keyes and Ryan did"
whoa, there partner. Ryan could be doing time in the big house very soon - let's not get carried away.
Good tactic! I've been doing for Chief performances for years. ;)
"He has turned the IL Republican party into a laughing stock”¦"
Did you just move here?
I'd join you, but I don't think I'll make it to the event (it's "daddy daughter date night" at church, and that's much more important to my girls than my attendance at the Lincoln Day Dinner).
Thank god.
Good for you, Mark. If other Republican leaders around this state will stand up like you in the coming ten days, this party could rid itself of Oberweis forever. It's way past time!
This party needs to turn the page once and for all, and Oberweis certainly isn't the answer.
I got a mailing today from the Oberweis campaign, comparing Judy Barr Topinka to Rod Blagojevich. It's awful.
Whatever happened with this? Mark, could you give us an update?
Much as I dislike Oberweis and his tatics, the Post Dispatch had an interesting article about polling coming up that shows he's gaining on JBT. the good news is it isn't just him picking up some momentum.
(Sorry for putting the full link in--I'm sure there's a way to put a short link in and I just haven't figured it out yet...)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/144E19A538CE15828625712E001C98AB?OpenDocument
The article starts out:
Oberweis is gaining on Topinka
By Kevin McDermott
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
03/10/2006
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.
REPUBLICANS
"Judy Baar Topinka continues to pose the most serious Republican threat to Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich's re-election, according to a new Post-Dispatch/KMOV-TV (Channel 4) poll.
But fellow Republican Jim Oberweis has chipped at Topinka's lead, as the March 21 party primaries approach.
The telephone poll of 800 likely voters was conducted last Monday through Wednesday by Research 2000, a Maryland firm. It will be published in full in Sunday's Post-Dispatch..."
The full article goes on to say that JBT is still the frontrunner in the Republican primary race, with Oberweis, Gidwitz, and Brady picking up some traction.
I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of that polling data tomorrow.
Hey Rich, just realized you're paying attention. I've had a few say they'd join me, but I'm not sensing a groundswell...but we'll see when I walk.
BTW, this is not some kind of act of courage. Just a good way of making a statement.
This is the most action the Champaign County Republicans have had in years! Let's hope they can keep some momentum going.
I do think it's courageous, Mark. In a society that confuses cowardly refusing to speak or act as "prudence", I think your expression of your feelings about how Oberweis has run his campaign is a vital, courageous act.
Good for you, Mark. I'd join you, but I'm in Indy.
I have never been for Obie. I met him during his run for Senate and he always seemed like a rich guy who just assumed that because he was now rich and didn't need to work for a living that he should naturally be our senator.
It didn't seem like he had much real ideology, or any real ideas. He just seemd to think the position was due him somehow.
Then, as his candidacy ran on he showed that he was a candidate constantly in search of his next position through current events.
I just cannot support him.
Lots of parades this weekend. Was your walkout one of them? We had the North Side and South Side St. Patrick's Day parades and, oh yeah, tens of thousands in a parade for ILLEGAL immigration. But the ILLEGAL immigration issues that Oberweis has brought forward are not a big issue in Illinois!
I couldn't make the parade because I had to work. It sounds like it was pretty powerful event.
Speaking of Saint Patrick's day parades, I wish Oberweiss had been around one hundred years ago. He could have kept the Irish immigrants from coming in and spoiling or country.
Handymom, I am with you. We are both in the boat now, lets pull up the ladder!
I agree with Xian - Mark, you deserve credit for taking a bold stand. It's one thing to sit in an audience and refrain from applauding, it's another thing to actual get up and walk out.
So...those of you who were there....how many people left?
"So”¦those of you who were there”¦.how many people left?"
Four or five.
Two dozen left - myself included.
Anony-mouse,
My family members immigrated here legally. Then they assimilated.
"I was there Says:
March 12th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
Two dozen left - myself included."
Uh, I was there too. Very few left--Shelden and a couple others. Quit using Blago math. By the way, Obie's speech was horrible--more of the same neqative junk against Topinka.