There are no Democratic heavyweights announcing that they want to run for this Senate seat. It's radioactive for them. There is a wave of anti-Democratic Party sentiment: both nationally, because Obama is badly overplaying his hand (and let's hope he's fool enough to continue doing exactly that), and at the statewide level, because of Rod Blagojevich.
We have to choose our nominee very carefully. The party has been badly splintered ever since George Ryan was indicted. The Judy Baar Topinkas and Mark Kirks have taken it over. I don't like it. And I would never vote for Mark Kirk in the primary. But we have to deal with the world as it is, rather than how we would like it to be.
Roskam and Shimkus decided to run robocalls for Kirk because they believe he can win. If you want to beat Kirk in the primary, you'd better bring your elephant gun. And by that, I mean pick one candidate who we can all get behind, and has a good chance to beat Mark Kirk, and donate generously. Walk the precincts for him, knock on doors for him, man a phone bank for him. We need a candidate who can inspire thousands of other people to do it too. Somebody like Jack Ryan, but without the negative history laying around for the Chicago Tribune to dig up.
Consider that the MSM has anointed Mark Kirk as the GOP nominee a year in advance, because they'd rather see him in that Senate seat than a true conservative. So we'll be up against the news media too.
For all these reasons, I'm sorry, but Eric Wallace can't win the primary against Mark Kirk. I think Jim Durkin is the guy for this job, if we can convince him to run. He won the nomination in 2002 but lost to Dick Durbin in November, under far more difficult circumstances. If Durkin had any negative history, the MSM would have unearthed it and smeared it all over their front pages back in 2002.
He's a fiscal conservative, which will go over really well in this climate. He's opposed to both gay marriage and civil unions. He voted against stem cell research, but he also voted against parental notification. He voted in favor of a moment of silent reflection in the classroom. Most significantly, he voted against the "Temporary Income Tax Increase and Tax Credit for Green Businesses," which is as close as the Illinois legislature has come to the "cap and trade" bill that Mark Kirk supported (and for which Kirk betrayed us all).
Jim Durkin is a lot more conservative than Mark Kirk, he can win the primary, and he can win in November, but we all need to write him a letter and convince him to run. We have to promise "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor," and hope that someday, he has a "Road to Damascus" moment about abortion.
I'd say we'll get another one sooner than you think. If that scum Combiner Kirk faces fellow Combiner Giannoulias in the general, and Giannoulias is elected (and if those are the choices, I HOPE he is), he will be indicted and likely forced from office, and we'll get to do this all over again in '12. Of course, if we are smart enough to nominate a NON-Combiner Conservative, we won't have to go through that scenario.
"There are no Democratic heavyweights announcing that they want to run for this Senate seat. It's radioactive for them."
Giannoulias is running, and he has already won statewide. First tier and crooked.
"We have a chance to revitalize the Republican Party in Illinois."
Start by running out the crooked Combiners in bed with the Democrat party.
"We have a golden, God-given opportunity to take this Senate seat, and establish our new Republican senator as the leader of the Illinois Republican Party."
That's why we MUST, at all costs, stop Mark Kirk from winning, both in the primary and if he buys the nomination for Nov '10. We cannot allow a Combiner be the face of the IL GOP. We will continue to rapidly decline if we do not purge this massive cancer destroying the state party.
It’s too late to persuade State Rep. Durkin to run. All conservatives should support Dr. Eric Wallace. I’m his northern Cook Co. coordinator. If you know anyone, in that area, who wants to volunteer, for him, please ask them to email me at philacollins@yahoo.com.