Posted on 05/30/2009 5:07:56 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
In Illinois, Republicans have been anxiously waiting for Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to decide whether he’s running for the Senate. If the popular, suburban Chicago congressman enters the race, strategists on both sides of the aisle expect the Illinois Senate race to be highly competitive.
But, as Kirk takes his time in making a decision, the party is beginning to consider an alternative plan. And a new name is now being floated – Steve Preston, who served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary in the final year of President Bush’s administration.
Preston is a former executive vice president at ServiceMaster and served as an administrator at the Small Business Administration before appointed to President Bush's Cabinet in April 2008..
He also has experience in taking over for an ethically-tarnished predecessor. At HUD, he succeeded Alphonso Jackson, who resigned while under federal investigation into whether he steered housing contracts to his friends.
It's still unclear how serious of a candidate Preston would be. He has never run for elective office, with his entire career in the business sector. But Republicans have a thin bench of prospective statewide candidates in Illinois, and if Kirk passes on the race, a well-funded outsider with Cabinet-level experience might be a necessary alternative.
(Excerpt) Read more at dyn.politico.com ...
This is an interesting idea. I don’t know much about Steve Preston. Perhaps he could run as an independent-minded non-politician. That could be the ideal approach in Illinois, given the current political climate there.
I had a feeling a Captain Kirk pic was coming.
lol
At HUD, he succeeded Alphonso Jackson, who resigned while under federal investigation into whether he steered housing contracts to his friends.
Isn't the entire purpose of HUD to steer contracts to friends?
Cue the priceline commercials...
I can’t imagine why the NRSCC and the rest of the Republican Party would be looking for an alternative to the pro-baby-killing, gun-grabbing, pro-homosexual Mark Kirk! He’s such a perfect fit in the new and improved Romney GOP!
/s (kinda)
I’m going to take a guess that both “R” possibilities for this seat are RINOs, which is just as bad as electing “D’s”.
He is a RINO in our circles and a “good†Republican in Illinois.He is a common breed pro-choice; fiscal conservative, veteran representing the affluent liberal Jan Shackowsky region of Illinois.
Alphonso Jackson stepped down in Bush’s final year? I missed that, LOL.
Of course the problem remains that if Preston is being recruited by the GOP establishment, chances are he won't run unless Kirk announces he's staying out. We need a decent candidate ready to step in and challenge Kirk if he runs. Basically the reason why Mr. "Electable" is holding out is he knows he can't beat Lisa Madigan, so the coward is holding off to see what her plans are (ditto with Joe Birkett)
It's unfortunate Kirk has the same last name as a legendary sci-fi hero. Kirk has nothing in common with his fictional counterpart. He's more of the Illinois version of this guy:
BTW, the Illinois GOP establishment's track record of running "electable" candidates is pretty abysmal. I don't think they've had a "winner" since Percy, and they were dead set against both Fitzgerald and Dirksen.
I love the Captain!
Congressman Mark Kirk has got to GO!!
He should become a DEMOCRAT! He votes like one!
2008
Steve Sauerberg (defeated in general election), 28%
2004
Andy McKenna (lost primary), 14.7%
2002
Jim Durkin, Jim Oberweis (supported by Hastert wing, lost primary), 31%
1998
Loleta Dickerson (lost primary)
1996
Bob Kustra (lost primary)
1992
Richard Williamson (defeated in general election) 43%
1990
Lynn Martin (defeated in general election) 35%
That's going back about 20 years. I'm pretty sure the last “winner” they backed was Percy is ‘78. My scorecard also shows that the anointed candidate of the party leaders hadn't won a primary since 1992 — until last year when they got tired of losing to conservatives and decided to rig the process for Sauerberg (if the party hadn't cleared the field of all big name candidates, censored the candidacies of the little-known candidates who did file, and run Sauerberg’s campaign for him, I'm convinced he would have lost the primary too).
I suppose you could make the case that Jim Durkin was the GOP establishment candidate in 2002 when he won the primary (as he has most of the party “leadership” on his side). However, the Hastert wing had all the clout in the ILGOP at the time and Hastert quite vocally put all his weight behind Oberweis.
Based on the data, I see no evidence for the continued claim that RINOs are magically more “electable” than conservatives in Illinois. If anything, the RINOs have done even WORSE than conservatives in the general election. The only conservative to do really poorly in the general election was Alan Keyes — and he had the excuse of being an 11th hour replacement candidate from out of state.
I missed it, too. I never heard of Preston until about two months ago. Last week, I read that he was the head of the Small Business Administration, June 2006-June ‘08; and secretary of HUD, June 2008-Jan. ‘09.
I agree that the party leaders have a poor record of supporting the right candidates. Before the 2008 U.S. Senate primary, many party leaders endorsed Dr. Sauerberg. He won the primary, and, in the general election, he got 33%. Before the 2006 governor primary, many party leaders endorsed then-Treasurer Topinka. She won the primary, and, in the general election, she got 38%. In the summer of 2004, since Jack Ryan dropped out of the U.S. Senate race, the IL GOP State Central Committee nominated Alan Keyes, who got 27%. All Illinois Republicans should learn from these election results. If party leaders endorse a candidate, for the 2010 U.S. Senate primary, we should support a different candidate.
Five of the last six people, who were elected to the U.S. Senate, from Illinois, were state legislators. Those five were Barack Obama, Peter Fitzgerald, Carol Moseley-Braun, Paul Simon, and Alan Dixon. The exception is Dick Durbin. These are some republican state senators who won four-year terms, in 2008: Dan Cronin, Carol Pankau, Kirk Dillard, Matt Murphy, J. Bradley Burzynski, Gary Dahl, Tim Bivins, Randy Hultgren, Larry Bomke, and John Jones. I think that all of them are more conservative than Kirk.
The party bosses didn’t like Dirksen? I didn’t know that.
Dirksen was the last conservative U.S. Senator that Illinois elected.
Dirksen was the last conservative U.S. Senator that Illinois elected.
Fitzgerald was off on a couple things (ANWR, some gun control) but he was a conservative.
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