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Today President Bush traveled to Camp David where he and Mrs. Bush and key members of his cabinet will stay this weekend. The President released a statement on this upcoming Veteran’s Day, proclaiming November 9th through 15th as Veteran’s Awareness Week.(Transcript) President Bush: Our country is forever indebted to our veterans for their quiet courage and exemplary service. We also remember and honor those who laid down their lives in freedom's defense. These brave men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit. On Veterans Day, we remember these heroes for their valor, their loyalty, and their dedication. Their...

Mike Ditka uses locker room flair at Pennsylvania rally Da Coach showed his passion. He had his usual flair. It was something right out of a 1985 locker room speech to the Chicago Bears. "Don't talk about what you're going to do," Mike Ditka told the crowd at a Pennsylvania rally Friday. "Prove you can do something." As Ditka stood on stage with presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, he looked almost Presidential himself...or at least Senatorial. If you don't believe us, watch the speech yourself. You may not remember, but it was Ditka that was...

Sarah Palin embarked on a Pennsylvania bus tour Friday, kicking things off with a rally featuring Mike Ditka, a.k.a. da coach, pledging his support for da GOP ticket. The former Chicago Bears coach was born in Pennsylvania and gave the crowd of a few thousand a pep talk just four days before Election Day. “Thing I know about Pennsylvania, you’re great people, you’re hardworking people-no nonsense people, and that’s what this is all about,” Ditka said.

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland (CNN)– With barely over two weeks left until Election Day, and Barack Obama ahead in the polls, a sudden thought occurred as we were rolling through Pennsylvania and Maryland: Could Mike Ditka, the former head coach of the Chicago Bears, have changed the course of U.S. history? It’s not that farfetched a question. Briefly, in the summer of 2004, Ditka was being pursued by Illinois and national Republican leaders to step in and run for the United States Senate against a newcomer to the political big leagues: Barack Obama, an Illinois state senator. Jack Ryan, who was expected...

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka robbed May 4, 2005 — Chicago police are looking for the person who stole a big chunk of money from former Bears coach Mike Ditka. Police say someone took $30,000 in cash from a black bag inside Ditka's condo in the city. He and his wife had been out of town since November. They returned home Monday to find that the money was gone.

"I am a Christian.... So, I have a deep faith. I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. "That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there's an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived." Thus, U.S. Senate candidate for Illinois Barack Obama in a campaign contribution by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani. Obama's...

Barack Obama with Illinois Senate President Emil Jones and other leaders at a 1,500 person rally for the Senator at Liberty Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side on Tuesday, March 9th. Photo by David Katz/Obama forIllinois)   Barack Obama speaks to a crowd at Liberty Baptist Church. (David Katz/Obama forIllinois) OPINION -- "I am a Christian.… So, I have a deep faith. I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people....

"The issues don't really matter," says one party fund-raiser. "This guy is the dream candidate." The Economist, July 15 With the June 25 announcement by conservative Republican Jack Ryan that he was dropping out of the U.S. Senate race for Illinois, and legendary Chicago Bears tight end/coach Mike Ditka's July 14 announcement that he would not serve as the sacrificial lamb of the corrupt, Illinois Republican Party leadership, the seat falls to Democrat candidate Barack Obama virtually by default. Meanwhile, in what is taking on the airs of a coronation, Obama has been chosen (while Hillary Clinton has been snubbed)...

Over the past week or two, talk in Illinois of former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka making a run for the U.S. Senate became surprisingly serious. Before Ditka announced yesterday that he's not interested, enough members of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, which will select a nominee to replace Jack Ryan, had endorsed Ditka that the nomination was his for the taking. This despite his lack of campaign experience and an apparent ineptness at packaging his message: in a moderate-to-liberal state, Ditka declares himself "ultra-ultra-ultra-conservative," despite being anti-gun. To understand why so many were so quick to embrace Ditka,...

Ditka Train Gathering Steam? Thursday Rally at Da Coach's Chicago Eatery Monday, July 12, 2004 By The Leader-Chicago Bureau CHICAGO, IL -- Big dollar Ditka supporters will be writing $10,000 checks to kick off a Ditka for U.S. Senate race Thursday night July 15 at Ditka's Restaurant, 100 E. Chestnut in Chicago from 6PM-8PM, a new political action committee announced Monday afternoon. "Now that Mike Ditka has indicated he would offer all voters in Illinois a better choice, Americans for Better Choices will immediately gear up its fundraising and endorsement efforts," the 527 group formed to promote the Ditka candidacy's...

Americans for Better Choices Announces Ditka for Senate Fundraiser and Voters' Rally CHICAGO, IL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 07/12/2004 -- Allan Hug, local entrepreneur and chairman of Americans for Better Choices (ABC) announced today that his recently formed 527 political organization will hold its first fundraiser at Ditka's Restaurant, 100 E. Chestnut in Chicago at 6PM-8PM on Thursday July 15th. Hug is delighted that Coach Ditka ended his long silence regarding the US Senate race on Fox News this morning. "Now that Mike Ditka has indicated he would offer all voters in Illinois a better choice, ABC will immediately gear...

Ditka among GOP names for Illinois Senate seat By MAURA KELLY LANNAN The Associated Press 7/10/2004, 8:38 p.m. CT CHICAGO (AP) — Former New Orleans Saints coach Mike Ditka is being considered as a Republican candidate to replace Jack Ryan in the race for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. Advertisement The other name making the rounds a day after state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger declined to run include Andrea Grubb Barthwell, the Bush administration's former deputy drug czar who resigned Friday to explore the possibility of a candidacy. House Speaker Dennis Hastert smiled Friday when asked what Illinois Republicans are looking...

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS -- Da Bears or Da Senate. Most conversations involving fans of the Chicago Bears eventually revert to the 1986 Super Bowl championship and their ringleader, Coach Mike Ditka. "Iron Mike," as he is known, won more than 100 games for the Bears from 1982 to 1992 after a distinguished playing career with the Monsters of the Midway. Now 64, Ditka is making news outside the gridiron. It has been speculated that he may enter the political arena. The prize -- a U.S. Senate seat now up for grabs after incumbent Republican Peter Fitzgerald announced he would not seek...

Could "da coach" pursue a new title as "da senator?" A group of grassroots GOP loyalists are trying to recruit former Bears coach Mike Ditka to run for U.S. Senate or Illinois Republican Party chairman in December. But are they serious? "Dead serious," said Tom Pence of Oswego, a Kendall County GOP committeeman who co-founded the Web site www.draftditka.com. The goal of his group is to gather 10,000 signatures to convince Ditka to lead the Republican Party after Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka ends her term. "I think Judy has done a great job bringing new people to the party," Pence...

Okay, there is a grassroots campaign to draft Mike Ditka to become State GOP Chairman. How about Ditka as a replacement for Jack Ryan on the ballot instead?

Secondhand smoke "might make your hair smell," but it's not a proven health risk, Bears-coach-turned-restaurant-owner Mike Ditka said Thursday, leading the charge against a proposed restaurant smoking ban in Chicago. With a cigar in one hand and a drink in the other, Ditka said his steelworker father was living proof that it's baloney for medical experts to claim that exposing a restaurant employee to an eight-hour shift's worth of secondhand smoke is the equivalent of smoking a half a pack of cigarettes. "My dad smoked four packs of Luckies from the time he was 12 until the time he was...