It looks like the unofficial margin is Mike Frerichs winning over Senator Judy Myers by 517 votes. I'll have more detailed numbers tomorrow or the day after.
I just wanted to say congratulations to Mike and his team, and offer this thread as an opportunity for thoughts, analysis, gloating - please keep it profanity free, but you can personally insult me as much as you like. :-)
To everyone that I worked with in Champaign County and around the state over the past year, I'd like to say, "Thank you."
UPDATE: Here's what I have, unofficially, for each County: (click on the image for a readable version).
Senator Myers won Danville & Vermilion County by 3,088 votes (combined), getting 56.2% to Mike Frerichs' 41.6%.
Frerichs won Champaign County by 3,605 votes, getting 53.3% to Myers' 42.7%.
SEP candidate Joe Parnarauskis got 1,893 votes total, or 3.41%, which I think is too low to legally "establish" the SEP.
I thought Myers would get 60%-plus in Danville/Vermilion. If she'd have gotten 60%, she'd have won.
I'll post my precinct-by-precinct results as soon as I can get the remaining precincts I'm missing from the Vermilion County Clerk.
UPDATE: Thanks to Matt Gladney for his kind words. And congratulations to him on winning a seat on the County Board. I hope he'll live-blog a bunch of meetings.
Your post is classy and very gracious. I'm sure Mike appreciates it.
Well, at least now you can critique Senator Frerich's every move. If Judy had won, you would have nothing to talk about on IP.
Let's also congratulate Sen. Casey, Sen. Whitehouse, Sen. Brown, Sen. McCaskill, Sen. Tester, and last but not least, Sen. Webb!!!! Not to mention Madame Speaker Pelosi. Can't wait for Denny to hand her the gavel (if he's still around by then).
And don't forget Naomi, who DEMOLISHED her opponents despite noise about pensions. How low can Republicans go in C-U? The combined liberal vote reached 70%!
We look forward to grand times!
Will you still call her Senator Judy Meyers?
Congrats to dems, generally. Nationally, state, and local. Just don't make it a habit! :)
Hey, Happy Dem... where are you getting the 70% figure? Just in the naomi/rex race, adding in the Green? I'm not sure I'd call that the C-U area "liberal vote" as the figure for blago/topinka/green here was about 29/53/17. With that and the Johnson/Gill numbers too... I'd figure the "liberal vote" to be much lower, with the differences in the races being due to name recognition, funding, screwups, etc.
Anyhoo... dems, celebrate... been 12 years of waiting for something this big. I hope the celebration doesn't last much past November 2008 though, unless your party platform/leadership changes dramatically on the National/State level.
My own congratulations to new County Board members Gladney and Melin. I wish you and your other 25 members much success in moving our County forward.
Mark Randall
Thank God Mike won. We would have been way up a creek without a paddle if Judy had won. I am sure she is very nice person, but Mike will be able to get things done for our area and perhaps end Rod's short-changing our community and university.
I hope the Democrats can be as gracious in victory as Hulten and Randall have been in defeat. Nationally, there have been a number of conservatives saying the best thing that could happen for Republican presidential chances in 08 is for Democrats to take over Congress in 06. I presume that's because that gives the Republicans somebody new to blame for everything that goes wrong; the idea that everything bad is Bill Clinton's fault is getting harder and harder to sell. As Iraq continues to implode, we will certainly be told by Fox, Limbaugh and the rest of the corporate media that it's because the Democrats wouldn't support the president. At the state level, I think we need to start practicing saying, "Governor Quinn." I can't imagine Blowhardovich making it through another four years without being indicted. At the local level, it's hard to not have just a glimmer of satisfaction in seeing how much money the Republicans spent on trying to recapture the county board and got nothing out of it. That and the Johnson/Gill race shows that gerrymandering works.
I'm happy with the national results. Not much going on in the local level--most of the local races in Chicago went 90-10 or were unopposed.
Thank you for your grace in defeat. I hope this can be the beginning of the end for not only the Republicans, but the Democrats as well.
Take care.
The race for the 52nd would have made Lee Atwater proud. I hope Mike can bring the district back into the sights of the Senate.
I want to thank Mark Shelden for hijacking the local party. Seeing an opportunity to lead young, inexperienced newbies Barickman, Hulten, Farney and Randall down the path of anti-mold, anti-Beckett, anti-Frerichs, and anti-Inman using "Rovian" dividing negativity instead of running positive campaigns, the party is now shattered. No experienced party leaders remain. Shelden has effectively placed the party in a deep coma, if not killed it outright.
Good luck in the future.
I do not mean to diminish the value of Moser, Knott, Tapley, Jay, and Bensyl, but they are only county board minority members, and only speak for their rural constituency, and are not "leaders" in the respect of the entire party.
Walsh, Welch and Frasca have not shown "leadership", rather, they have done well in their offices, which is very good, but are not postitive political "spokesperson" leaders.
Shelden has been the speaker this cycle, and has hurt the party with his negative messages, and with his leading others into negativity .
Top two national news stories on CBS Early Show just now:
-- Democrats recapture the House
-- Britney Spears kicking hubby Federline out of the house.
Now we know what is really of interest to the general public.
Congrats to the winners.
Proof that the democratic system works - when "the people" want change of leadership, it happens. Peacefully.
(Although we'll be spending the next few months cleaning up all the mud that was slung)
When you're stuck in a rut, sometimes it requires jerking the wheel hard in a different direction rather than trying to ease her out.
The dems ran on a platform of change - and the tactic worked. Now, let's see what what we can accomplish together.
Congrats again.
I want to echo Mark Randall's statement congratulating Mr. Beckett & Ms. Wysocki on their win. They, along with all board members, have a long road ahead of them with the major challenges that are facing Champaign County.
Green guy, your words make me feel a little better this morning - thanks for some perspective.
I suspect we will see some of GW's "uniting" skills right away - probably to the detriment of fiscal conservative values.
Gordy: That's a most gracious post. I'm still looking forward to sitting down over a beer sometime, once we all get rested up...
citizen Says--"...Mike will be able to get things done for our area..."
I sincerely hope you are correct as this would be a dramatic change from his lack of accomplishments on the CC Board.
My congratulations to all the winners yesterday and I hope your debt to your supporters does not keep you from being a good public servant.
I would also like to add my congratulations to Gordy's. I may not agree with some of your tactics you won and did a great job not only on Myers/Frerich's but on other races (of course the losers always say the winners did a great job makes them look better). Thanks for taking most of our signs down could you take rest down the rest please :).
Run4con--She will always be Judy she a nice lady. She will always be a Senator Judy Myers in public. Just as the News media introduced President Clinton the other day and if I ever meet him I would show the same respect and call him same.
As a republican we will have to learn to work together not fall apart if we want to win in the future. I see those new people that you listed as people working hard to get things done but GOP 25 if you have ideas let's talk.
Kevin I am sure I will see you out and around we will get together.
I think Bill Bennett saw this (national sweep) coming. The fighting in Iraq is political poison, and yet too essential for Bush to quit - and it killed his Congress.
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/BillBennett/2006/10/23/the_inflation_bill
Yes, congrats Mike, on finally getting a job.
We'll all be waiting to see how long it takes for our district to pay the pound of flesh for Emil's "generosity".
The week before GW sent troops overseas, he addressed the nation and declared his intentions to end terrorism on this planet. He said that night, that 2, 3 or even 4 years down the road, this war would be unpopular but it must be fought, and whomever was in charge needed to remember this. The ruling party is always in danger during times of war and war is certainly ALWAYS poison. There's never been a good war, at least since i've been aware, but we need strong leadership to continue wars we've started. That leadership has now shifted and can hopefully stay strong. we'll see..
OK. The sun did rise this morning, and my wife reminded me of the fun we had when the dems last were in control. Impeachments, Indictments.. White House Murders, Scandals, Investigations, Hearings, Cigars & Dresses.. wow.. Time for Republicans to take a break and watch the show, or perhaps testify..
Congrats to the winners and the losers... Just being done with the process is a win for us all....
Hard R. Shelden was the leading Republican vote getter. Find another whipping boy.
"My own congratulations to new County Board members Gladney and Melin. I wish you and your other 25 members much success in moving our County forward."
Thanks, Mark.
You ran an awesome campaign, and it was more than evident that you worked really, really hard. Despite any political or ideological differences we may have, you have my sincere and deep respect.
Thank you chuckdarwin for reminding us of GW's words. So he got us into an Iraq 'war' on faulty information and without a plan for getting us out with his prediction of it taking 'even 4 years' about expire.
Remembering this makes yesterday's results look positively great considering what it could have been.
It was a mistake for Champaign County to vote for Frerichs.
Let me be the first to plead with you to make him accountable in four years when (1) the now-veto-proof Democrat-controlled legislature continues to repeatedly screw everyone who lives south of I-80; (2) more money is slashed from the UofI budget by, again, the now-veto-proof Democrat-controlled legislature; (3) nothing comes of any of Mike's great economic development ideas (I honestly mean that, it's not sarcasm) because the now-veto-proof Democrat-controlled legislature does not care a lick about anything that happens south of I-80; (4) Mike proves that there is no such thing as a free lunch by becoming another one of Emil Jones's lap dogs in the senate.
I'm not sure Judy Myers would have been the answer, but I assure you that Frerichs is going to be part of the problem.
I would love to be wrong about this, and if I am, four years from today, I will return here to apologize for being a cynic. But if I am right, I think that all of us should demand an apology from Mike Frerichs (and I think that part of that apology should abstaining from running for a second term).
But right now I am a little bit overwhelmed by the feeling that every vote cast for Frerichs in Champaign County screws us all.
I've been out collecting yard signs this morning. There were some Cunningham precincts where none of the yardsigns were collected - R and D, so I took them all.
If any of the campaigns want to get their signs back, I'd be glad to hold on to them for you. Email me at jfarney@gmail.com and we can arrange pick-up.
If I don't hear from anyone, I'll just recycle the paper and re-use the metal.
Less Gracious I totally agree!
He sold our collective souls to the Chi-town thugs. Maybe next go around Frerichs will be campaigning and standing in the polling areas at Chicago State (the New Flagship Illinois University).
I'm very, VERY worried.
Gordy - your invitation for gloating shows a lot of class. As does your willingness to let anyone from any political stripe post on this blog. I've enjoyed reading it and posting.
I think Frerichs ran an excellent campaign. He was aggressive and visible very very early on. His decisions to purchase billboards and an on-line ad on the News-Gazette website were smart.
Not to gloat, but I think Myers ran an usually negative campaign. If she is as nice a woman as some of you claim, I believe she only hurt herself by running a campaign that was counter to her personality. And the ad about busloads of people from Chicago was absolutely ridiculous. And transparent in its motives.
Many of the folks on this blog have been persistent in criticizing a candidate (Frerichs) who essentially has no record. Virtually all your criticisms are/were nothing but speculation. Yes, four years from now we'll really know the truth of his record, although I suspect most of you will be crying wolf every time Frerich's votes with Jones. We'll see.
This has been a great place to follow the 2006 elections for ex-residents like myself. Thanks for including posts from various points of view. Just out of curiosity, when did the News-Gazette start to endorse County Board candidates? When I lived in Urbana back in the 90s, the N-G did not endorse candidates. At that time, the thought of the N-G endorsing Democrats would have seemed far-fetched.
Gordy,
now that the elections are over, is it possible for you to divulge to us some of the internal polling numbers you had access to? I'm just personally curious what the numbers were showing as the campaigns were hitting their full strides.
"I'm not sure Judy Myers would have been the answer, but I assure you that Frerichs is going to be part of the problem."
"I think that all of us should demand an apology from Mike Frerichs."
Clearly 'Less gracious' and 'logicalpositiv' are still all wound up from negative adversiting and the simple answers they offer. I am assuming neither of you has spent any time with Mike or know how deeply he is committed to this area and its people. Yes Mike is an Illinois Democrat. Yes Emil Jones is his party leader. But the people of Champaign and Vermilion county decide if he stays in office, Not Emil Jones. The truth is Mike will have to make some decisions when he is in session that will benefit party interests, but this is how politics works. Its give and take. If he proves to be a skilled statesman, which I believe he will, he will be able to work within his own supremely dominant party to better the 52nd. Judy Myers would have come into a Illinois Republican party that is in shambles. We will see a change in our community, only if the Democrats what it done, regardless if Mike or Judy won. We are much more likely to see change occur if we have a represenative within the powerforce than an opponent in the weaker party.
I know this is an idealistic view, but I don't care as much about the 52nd district as I care about the State. I want representatives that take care of the state first, the home district 2nd. Minimum wage increases, universal health care, universal preschool, pension raids, fund sweeps, giveaways for embyonic stem cell research.... who is going to stop Blago from implementing this agenda that I believe is bad for the state? Is Senator Frerichs going to stand up to Dem leadership and vote against any Dem legislation? I will watch, but I am not holding my breath.
Jay wrote, "Many of the folks on this blog have been persistent in criticizing a candidate (Frerichs) who essentially has no record."
That's precisely the point Jay. Frerichs had no record of accomplishment at all. He spent all his time in his positions to run for the greener pasture and go after the next best thing. Would you hire a lawyer that never had courtroom experience? Would you let a surgeon operate who you were their first? I doubt you would.
I'm also not sure about the cry wolf statement. The moral of the fable was that nobody believe liars even when they decide to tell the truth. What does that mean? Does it mean that when Frerichs makes his token statement/act of "independence" from his political puppet masters that we should believe him?
A Friend of Mike, with all due respect, I don't know how you could be so naive and yet so Machiavellian at the same time. How can you say that Mike is not now in the pocket of Emil Jones--bought and paid for? Emil will want a return on his investment. Mike wants to climb the ladder and this is the ends justifying the means. Plus, it's about Mike making decisions to benefit his constituency not making "decisions when he is in session that will benefit party interests". Right there you are showing that he is beholden to the Chicago Democratic machine and not the best interests of the people from this area.
What's the big deal about a veto proof legislature? Who's going to veto anything?
Don't forget bout o'l George. Think he had more face time than mikey. Where's the kodos?
Cuzfred said "What's the big deal about a veto proof legislature? Who's going to veto anything?"
Have you followed the federal government since Jan. 20 2001?!? Something like that is the "big deal".
The problem with a veto proof majority is that it would normally take a few republican's and conservative democrats to pass a bill. It was even harder for Blago to get a budget passed after the deadline which required a super majority. Also if the governor did veto something now Emil Jones could over ride it. Say the Gov. theatened a veto of Gambling Expansion and the senate was not sure they had the votes or barely enough they would not pass it because the members would not want to make the Governor mad for later votes. This won't be a problem now Emil will find it much easier to find those votes with that Veto proof majority. Of course this will put more pressure on Mike to toe the line.
I will say that Mike and I have spoke quite a few times. I do respect him and his family and work with his brother it doesn't make me an expert on him but I do believe he will try to help this area and working people. The problem will be in Springfield it won't matter what Mike wants it will be what people like Blago, Jones, Madigan and Daley want. I still wish him good luck it will be tough.
Did the Democrats really get a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly? What are the new partisan margins in both houses? I cannot find it on the Sun-Times or Trib's websites.
This is FANTASTIC news. As I've been saying, grand times ahead!
A Friend of Mike's: "The truth is Mike will have to make some decisions when he is in session that will benefit party interests, but this is how politics works. Its give and take."
I am not some kind of neophyte here, and my position has nothing to do with the despicable negative ads that were run throughout this campaign. It is clear that an astronomical proportion of Frerichs's contributions came from people who have a strong interest in maintaining the state's apathy toward Central Illinois, it is as plain as the ink on his campaign finance disclosure sheets. Anyone who knows anything about "give and take" knows that to take you need to have some sort of position of power to negotiate from.
As of now Frerichs has taken, and he will be expected to give (and give and give and give) until that debt is paid off.
I hope I'm wrong: Maybe this will be Mr. Frerichs goes to Springfield, and he will prevail with integrity. But I fully expect that the Senate (led by Chicago Democrats) will force all of us down here in Central Illinois to "assume the position" and continue getting screwed.
The Myers-Freirichs campaign was nasty and expensive. It was a little ironic, because Mike himself seemed like a nice guy when I (briefly) met him, and I've heard that Judy is at least genuinely well-meaning.
Hard R for 25 years - I don't think the correct response to the results of the election should be to point the finger at those who were doing their best to overcome national and statewide trends. We ran some really tough races, and all the odds were against us - I want to congratulate the county party for thier efforts. I think at this point we have some good candidates identified, and have a more solid infrastructure in place, and when broader trends are more in our favor, I think we can do a lot with what has been built. I think if some of the campaigns hadn't sucked it up and gone negative, the losses would have been greater - that's just the kind of races these were.
I would like to thank all the people who work so hard in all the campaigns. The canidates would not be were they are if it was not
for the work all of you did. I hope that they realize that and are
not in for just them self.
I said all along that the area up north must know Mike Frerichs better then the rest of the people in Champagin county. His numbers in his own territory seem to tell the story in the final outcome.
Hard R for 25 years: You're welcome to call me--or any of the other Republicans you named--any time you'd like to share your ideas for how Republicans can win more county board seats or any other constructive thoughts you have for improving the local party. My phone number at home is 351-7031 and my work number is 351-6539 and my e-mail address is s.tapley@sbcglobal.net. Or, you could just file as a candidate and show us all how to do things the right way.
Of course, you're welcome to spew your complaints, blame and finger-pointing on this website and/or in letters to the News-Gazette (but then you couldn't remain anonymous).
By the way...congratulations, Mike! I'm still stunned.
The answer? Be more moderate. EXPAND the base to include moderate Republicans turned off by the Christian Conservative right and the liberal left. In short, regain the Reagan Republicans and the hard working moderate Democrats who align with the conservative ideals of hard work and personal responsibilty, yet allow for the right of a woman to choose, who support strong national defense,yet abhor adventurism even in the name of anti-terrorism, who cringe at Pelosi/Reid/Durbin style liberalism,yet allow for personal choice. Who understand immigration can be a good thing (ask the Irish, ask the Italians, askthe Poles).
Moderates are the key, and not protecting and coddling the right wing neocon "base" which shrinks daily.
Be the "big tent" of Reagan, not the hard conservative base of Bush/Santorum.
Communicate a positive message of what we can do, not the fear of what will happen if "they"win.
That's how to win nationally,state-wide, and most importantly, locally.
As a newcomer to the district (and the state) this election cycle was really something else for me. I've never been in a remotely competitive district on pretty much any level, so voting just wasn't all that exciting. Here it was different.
About a month after I arrived to start law school I met Mike Frerichs who struck me in two ways. One he made me feel short for the first time in my life and two he struck me as a particularly thoughtful and mentally agile man. The day after I met him I went into his office and volunteered for his campaign, doing whatever I could squeeze into my schedule over the next three months until yesterday when I poll watched for fifteen hours and did my last for the campaign. Over those three months I had a number of times to talk to Mike whether it was at a fundraiser with a drink or in his office as I was heading out to canvass. I can't speak for him eternally or anything, but I think he's got the makings of a very talented politician. He's on the level with the people he speaks with, he's a good listener, got a good memory for faces, and knows what to say and when to say it. I wouldn't be surprized to find out that in four or eight years he was going for a statewide position, he just needs to develop the polish and oozing charisma a little more. Having interned in political offices and breathed statewide politics in my home state for several years, I think he's a much more skilled politician than many of the people I've run into (all of whom had 2-4 times as many constituents and thus much larger crowds to woo). I actually ran into him today while I was out at lunch. He looked a bit haggard and tired, but the lines of worry were gone and he was much more at ease than I have seen him in a month and gracious as ever.
As an aside, many of us that volunteered on the campaign found the Myers ad in the paper to be hilarious. People from Chicago coming down to stop you from voting. It was ironic when our poll watchers had to square off against her poll watchers who had prepared extensive blacklists of voters they intended to challenge in the campus precincts, but obviously they didn't try to disenfranchise hard enough.
I don't know who was responsible for that ad. Obviously, I haven't seen the result of focus group testing, and surely the Meyers camp focus tested the ad before they ran it. But in my opinion, based on anecdotal evidence, it cost them the election. I think the idea of the ad was to fire up the base; to get the base pissed off and angry at Chicago politicians. But it was so heavy handed and so obviously not true that it wound up making people angry against the campaign. Too bad we don't have anyone on the inside who can give us the scoop about the ad.
"Too bad we don't have anyone on the inside who can give us the scoop about the ad."
Yes. Too bad, isn't it. :-)
I'm still deciding how much of a "post-mortem" I want to do on this site about the Myers-Frerichs race. So I won't say much about the ad, except that I didn't find out about it until after it had been published and Rich Miller IM'd me, and as soon as I saw it, I was less than happy about it.
Thanks, Gordy, you confirmed what I thought I divined about your own view of the ad.
"EXPAND the base to include moderate Republicans turned off by the Christian Conservative right and the liberal left."
Hard R, that is easy to say, and both parties try to tack to the middle as far as they can, but if you go too far you lose your flank. The Dems now have the Greens in Illinois as an established party. "Too much like the Republicans." That might not mean much now, but I bet it will in the not too distant future. Blago didn't get 50% of the vote. Viable Greens in Urbana could create opportunities for Republicans to win with 40% of the vote.