Tag: illinois

Marco Rubio moneybomb today.

[UPDATE: By the way, the below link is to Demint’s Senate Conservatives Fund’s portion of the Rubio moneybomb. Said portion’s sub-goal is 100K, and they’re at 86.2K already.]

He’s trying to raise 787 thousand (in ‘commemoration’ of the 787 billion dollar ‘stimulus’ that the Democrats have wished upon the country): he’s well on his way, but it would be excellent if the Rubio campaign had to scribble an updated, higher fundraising goal all over their nice, clean design.

This primary is important enough to trigger my ‘throw in what money you can’ reflex: so go ye, and do the same.

Continue reading Marco Rubio moneybomb today.

IL LT GOV Candidate Scott Cohen (D) drops knife, out of race.

As always, Cohen was going to stick it out to the end, right up to the moment that he decided to spend more time with the members of his family that don’t currently have restraining orders on him.

Illinois Democratic Lieutenant Governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen announced Sunday evening that he is withdrawing from the race amid revelations about his personal history.

Cohen, a millionaire pawnbroker and cleaning supplies company executive who emerged the victor in last week’s primary, had been accused of holding a knife to the neck of his ex-girlfriend, a prostitute, in 2005.

It has also been revealed in recent days that Cohen had once been accused of abusing an ex-wife. Cohen has also acknowledged using steroids for a period of time.

Word is that the Democrats are trying to find a replacement – a bit of a surprise to second-place finisher Arthur Turner, but then ‘democratic Illinois Democrat’ is an oxymoron – and it is my devout hope that the questionnaire gets leaked to the press. Between this, the entire ‘avoid paying taxes’ thing, and the rumors that another major philandering scandal’s going to hit a sitting Democratic governor tomorrow, the party leadership may end up deciding that the best way to get halfway normal candidates is to raise them from birth in a big plastic bubble…

Moe Lane

PS: Jason Plummer for Lt. Governor. He doesn’t cut women.
Shoot, I was looking forward to running on that one, too.

Crossposted to RedState.

Four days left on Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) drive.

(Reminded by AoSHQ) I could come up with a convoluted reason to repost this widget for the Adam Kinzinger campaign, but I shan’t:

It’s just that it’d be great if the campaign had to reset the total amount that they were going for with days to spare. This district should be ours, and incumbent Debbie Halvorson doesn’t put her constituents first; so if you’re mildly cursing because the snow is stopping you from ordering that pizza that you wanted, well…

Moe Lane

PS: As you know, I don’t have discretionary income, really. But I gave Adam something. Because it’s important.

Crossposted to RedState.

What’s the matter with Illinois? #rsrh

Nothing, from my point of view: but PPP might disagree: Tom Jensen’s noted with some alarm that the Dem/GOP numbers for this primary (885K to 736K) are a great deal closer than the Dem/GOP numbers for 2004 (1,242K to 662K), which was the last contested Senate primary*.  As Tom said, “Those numbers are awfully close to each other for a state that’s overwhelmingly Democratic.”

They’re also too close together for comfort for any Democratic candidate (like, say, Alexi Giannoulias) hoping that the populace won’t notice that he’s more-of-the-same.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.

*No Senate elections in 2006, and Durbin ran unopposed in 2008.

Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) for Congress.

Now that the Illinois primary is over, we can show you the official GOP candidate for IL-11. Meet Adam Kinzinger:

(Donate to Adam Kinzinger here: he’s trying to raise 10K by 02/10/10.)

Adam’s a fiscal conservative, military veteran (Air NG, served overseas), and pro-life; his hobbies include toppling incumbents in elections, advocating smaller government, and subduing would-be knife-wielding maniacs with his bare hands. His opponent, Debbie Halvorson, is best known for folding like a cheap suit over cap-and-trade, then running and hiding over health care rationing like most of the rest of the supposedly ‘moderate’ Democrats in Red Districts. IL-11 is a R+1 district, so check Adam out.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The NRSC wastes *no* time on properly greeting Giannoulias.

(H/T: @sorendayton) You know, I noticed during the run-up to the Illinois Senatorial primary that more than one Democratic activist expressed worries about a Giannoulias primary win.  And why were they worried?

Pretty much because of what you’re about to see.

Welcome to Chicago.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.

Crossposted to RedState.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-09), insurance industry profiteer.

It’s about the hypocrisy, stu… err, ‘folks.’

This came up a couple of days ago:

…while Rep. Schakowsky likes to attack health insurance profits, those profits have found a way into her own pocket. Her 2008 financial disclosure statement to the U.S. House of Representatives reveals that she owns several mutual funds that, in turn, own stock in major health insurance companies and provide her with dividend income.

Through her mutual funds, Schakowsky has a stake in UnitedHealth, the biggest health insurance company in America. She also profits indirectly from Aetna, the third-largest U.S. health insurer, as well as online insurance retailer eHealth. Rep. Schakowsky even owns mutual funds that hold shares in foreign insurance companies, such as China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance Group of China, as well as the Islamic Arab Insurance Co., which specializes in Shari’ah compliant funds.

In addition, Rep. Schakowsky’s mutual funds own shares in other companies and industries that she has singled out in the past, according to the most recent information available.

Back when Robin Williams was funny – back when I was a teenager, in other words – he was in a movie with Walter Matthau called The Survivors. One of the characters in it was the leader of what Hollywood imagined a survivalist group looked like; he went everywhere with a locked briefcase full of what he claimed was his master plan for rebuilding after civilization collapsed. Turned out that the briefcase was really full of stock certificates and land deeds that the guy bought with all the money that his followers were uncritically giving him.

And that’s Jan Schakowsky, right there.  Heck, she even invested in funds that own a piece of Halliburton.

Moe Lane

PS: Not benefiting from the health insurance industry and Halliburton profits that she decries would be part of her loudly-expressed moral framework, not mine.  It’s her job to either live up to her ideals, or else admit that she doesn’t try to.  Yelling at me won’t make her less of a hypocrite.

Deal with it.

PPS: Joel Pollak is running for this seat; there may be others.

Crossposted to RedState.

‘Rod Blagojevich, THOU ART AVENGED!’

Have I used that one before?

Doesn’t matter if I had: it’s worth repeating. Via @MelissaTweets comes the wonderful news that Roland Burris is giving this ‘run for election’ thing serious consideration.  Yes, I know that the conventional wisdom is that he won’t, but Roland Burris is neither conventional, nor particularly wise – and he’s not actually ruling out a run. Admittedly, right now his major problem is that he’d need to find some surefire and very public way to appeal to the liberal faction of the Democratic party.  But how to do that?

…Sen. Roland Burris just put out a statement saying he won’t vote for a bill that doesn’t include a public option, which is not supported by many of his moderate Democratic Senate colleagues.

Yeah. Yeah, that’ll do it.

Moe Lane

PS: Just remember: if he does run, and you’re a Democrat who votes against him in the primary, it’s because you’re a racist. Just ask Jimmy Carter.

Crossposted to RedState.

The City of Chicago government will be closed today for lack of funds.

No, really.

If you planned to check out a library book, visit a city clinic or have your garbage picked up on Monday, you’re out of luck.

The City of Chicago is basically closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most city offices will be closed.

They technically ‘moved’ this reduced-services day from New Year’s Eve, and if somebody wants to believe that they won’t have to have that day be reduced-services – or that there won’t be other reduced-service days added – well. Continue reading The City of Chicago government will be closed today for lack of funds.