Posted on 01/04/2004 8:23:17 AM PST by JohnnyZ
Why is the only military hero running for U.S. senator in Illinois seemingly so far down the pack on the Republican side? John Borling of Rockford (born in Chicago) has a resume that would send ordinary politicians drooling. He's a retired Air Force major general, a former POW in Vietnam -- shot down by ground fire, seriously injured, captured while trying to escape and held 61/2 years in Hanoi, including imprisonment in the notorious ''Hanoi Hilton.'' In 37 years with the Air Force, he was highly decorated, and was head of operations for the Strategic Air Command in the first Gulf War and Panama. The dashing bio races on: former head of a prestigious Pentagon think tank, a White House fellow, former chief of staff at NATO's headquarters north. He's a poet: One sonnet about his imprisonment in Hanoi goes: ''The world without, within our weathered walls/Remote like useless windows, small and barred/ Here, months and years run quickly down dim halls/ But days, the days, the empty days come hard.'' The title -- ''4 45 43'' -- is in tap code as used in Hanoi, meaning ''Sonnet for Us.''
More bio: Borling ran with the bulls at Pamplona, Spain. His military service also provided diplomatic experience at key embassies in NATO nations. Why, then, has not John Borling been drafted by the Illinois GOP as its Senate candidate? Why hasn't he dominated the polls to date?
Possibly because running for office is different than graduating with honors from officer candidate school. Illinois' political parties are embedded in grass-roots movements as well as money. In recent years, a major movement for key statewide Republican candidates involves pro-life, which supplies volunteers from churches and free-based organizations. Borling is steadfastly for abortion rights.
Then, too, key GOP candidates -- Andy McKenna, Jack Ryan and Jim Oberweis -- are men of substantial wealth and have given generously to their own campaigns. Borling's net worth ($1 million plus) doesn't stack up, and he has been able to raise only $250,000 to date. It means no TV or radio ads; no multicolored brochures. Yet this strategist has a plan that he believes will gain victory.
Borling identifies his pro-abortion-rights position as an important plus, believing his competitors will split the pro-life vote. He estimates that 25 percent of the Republican electorate favors abortion rights, which he will trumpet in the campaign. Then, there are the veterans. More than a million veterans in Illinois will come to his aid, he reasons -- and with their extended families and contacts will produce an army of 4 million. To which Borling adds senior citizens -- at age 63, he is a vigorous member. He estimates that at least 25 percent of the state's voters are seniors.
Beyond these factors, Borling relies heavily on a resume that, he believes, will spur voters to endorse him. One thing is sure: If a bio can do it, Borling is a winner. But his coalition strategy leaves some doubt. Do all veterans vote alike? They formed a good chunk of Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) supporters for the presidential race in 2000, but despite the glorious resume and POW heroics, McCain lost to a former Texas National Guardsman named George W. Bush. Is abortion rights a winning issue in a Republican primary? Lieutenant governors Bob Kustra and Corinne Wood lost to pro-lifers, and Wood was defeated even when Attorney General Jim Ryan and state Sen. Patrick O'Malley divided up the anti-abortion vote.
What's more: Will all senior citizens march in lockstep for the retired major general, identifying with him because of his age? Highly doubtful. What about the youth vote? Borling is founder and CEO of SOS America (Service Over Self), which, his bio says, ''advocates a year of military service for America's young men.'' The organization would provide compulsory conscription for men and voluntary service for women but would not replace the all-volunteer army. Will this kindle the spirit of idealism that can propel his candidacy with the same speed with which he evaded the bulls of Pamplona? Perhaps -- but this plan might alienate libertarians in the GOP who, while agreeing with him on abortion rights, dislike compulsion.
Borling's slogan, emblazoned on buttons he gives out, reads: ''Duty Calls Again.'' Does it? My guess is that Republicans will surmise that the job of U.S. senator is too lowly for the general and will choose instead as GOP nominee one of his businessmen competitors.
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That the general election race is a tossup?
1. Ryan: popular favorite (45%)
2. McKenna: establishment fave for insiders who think they're essential (22%)
3. Rauschenberger: respected but underfunded (16%)
4. Oberweis: prior primary loser called pro-lifers "Taliban", now claims pro-life, angering both sides (8%)
5. Borling: might break 5%
FIELD. Kathuria and company: less than 5%
Borling emerged from central casting as Elmer Fudd.
Let us not despair The state AFL-CIO endorsed Hynes but Chicago left Afro-American State Senator Obama (change just one letter and...) is playing the race card in gathering endorsements from black union locals.
Jack Ryan also quit his investment banking career in which the Chicago boy of modest roots parlayed his Dartmouth and Harvard degrees into a $50 million fortune by age 40 to teach the tricks of that trade to ghetto kids on the notorious South Side of Chicago. He first offered to do so in public schools but the Machine would not put him to work teaching without a certificate so he turned to a black Catholic Franciscan Boys' High School instead. Jack Ryan may be the most interesting GOP Senate nominee of 2004 and the biggest upset winner. Oberweis is a terminal lightweight who inherited his wealth. The Illinois GOP establishment (the liberal airheads and crooks) are too busy praying not to join their last sell-out moderate governor/crook in the federal hoosegow to much affect this race. Judy Bahr Topinka, fashionably attired in horizontal stripes, her outfit matching Lyin' George Ryan's (George is NOT related to Jack in ANY way).
Hey Lady, were you ever planning on answering my questions? Or are you a cut-and-run poster? Just wondering . . .
Did you see he got the AFSME endorsement? Is that what you were referring to?
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