LaHood Eyeing Gubernatorial Run in Illinois (Opportunity to elect real conservative to Congress)

Roll Call ^ | January 12, 2005 | Lauren W. Whittington

[AuH2ORepublican]

LaHood Eyeing Gubernatorial Run in Illinois

By Lauren W. Whittington Roll Call Staff Wednesday, Jan. 12; 11:25am

Rep. Ray LaHood, who has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill and back home in Illinois with his candor and willingness to publicly criticize fellow Republicans, will announce today he is forming a committee to explore running for governor in 2006.

[AuH2ORepublican]

If Congressman Ray LaHood runs for the governorship of Illinois, it would allow a real conservative to win in this very Republican district. LaHood probably won't be able to beat Governor Blagojevich, but he might surprise us and end Blago's career before he becomes a Senator-for-life (I fear that if Blago wins reelection in 2006, he will run for the Senate in 2010 with Senator Barack Obama running for Governor, which would improve the Marxist Obama's chances of becoming President).

[AuH2ORepublican]

PING

[fieldmarshaldj]

When it rains, it pours... This perfectly dovetails with that article on the downfall of the IL GOP. LaHood is a thug, and I wouldn't support him for dogcatcher. I don't know if I'd be making speculations at this point about what will happen by 2010, Blago could be in the pokey with George Ryan and Obama may be Carol Mostly-Fraud Redux.

[Kuksool]

Ray LaHood is the reason why Obama is Senator. He cnonstantly bad mouthed Peter Fiztgerald. LaHood even started exploring a possible primary challenge to Fitzgerald. This guy is not a team player. Nevertheless, LaHood could possibly give Blago a big scare. The feud between Him and Dick Mell, a Chicago Alderman is looking bad on him. Plus the impasse on the state budget last year lowered his approval rating from Downstate voters. So Blago is vulnerable.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Sure LaHood is a team player, he's the enforcer for the IL GOP establishment, and he was successful in kneecapping Fitz. I can't believe that a feud between Mell and Blago is going to have much of an impact. Why on earth would Dick want to kneecap his son-in-law ? The whole thing seems ridiculous to me.

[Clintonfatigued]

I couldn't log onto the article, but in the past Peoria Mayor David Ransburg has been mentioned as a possible successor to LaHood. I don't know anything about him except his office.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"I couldn't log onto the article, but in the past Peoria Mayor David Ransburg has been mentioned as a possible successor to LaHood."

---

I couldn't read the article either. Hopefully some Good Samaritan will give us a synopsis of what it says.

I posted it because I don't like LaHood very much and liked the thought of him being replaced by another Republican in the House. And if LaHood can pull off the upset and beat Blago, hopefully he won't screw up too badly in the governorship.

[hgro]

This klutz Lahood knocked the only honest politician elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois in decades - Senator Peter Fitzgerald. He pats himself on the back constantly and is a worthless punk.

[Graybeard58]

I like Ray LaHood but hope he hangs on to his seat in the house.

I don't think he has much of a chance at the governorship because of democrat Chicago. His house seat is safe for him but in an open election democrat Doug Stevens would likely run again and he's a very popular pro life democrat around here.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"His house seat is safe for him but in an open election democrat Doug Stevens would likely run again and he's a very popular pro life democrat around here."

---

I believe that Bush got above 55% in LaHood's CD both in 2000 and 2004. Any Democrat House candidate, even if he's pro-life, would be a huge underdog.

If LaHood does vacate the seat, who do you think will be the possible GOP nominees? And would Stevens be the front-runner in the RAT primary? What is his his political résumé, and in what part of the district is his political base?

[MamaLucci]

LaHood is a lot of things, but "conservative" ain't one of them.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"LaHood is a lot of things, but "conservative" ain't one of them."

---

That's why I said that this is our chance to elect a real conservative from LaHood's very Republican district. With LaHood seeking higher office, it gives a true conservative a shot at Congress.

[MamaLucci]

Not enough coffee this am.........I agree with your premise. ;)

[Graybeard58]

Doug Stevens is well known in this area. Through lots of advertising for his firm. he's a personal injury lawyer. He's the democrat who gave either Bob Michel or Ray LaHood a run for their money - I can't remember which.

I am accquainted with Doug Stevens and he's a completely likable guy but I wouldn't vote for him and he knows it. I respect his stand on abortion, he's dead set against it and that's not a popular stand for a democrat to take. Aside from that he's a lib through and through.

David Ransburg mentioned in post #6 is a likely Republican candidate. Another possibility is Stu Umholtz, Prosecuter for Tazewell county, though I hope not. I have had personal dealings with him too - not in his professional capacity.

[conservativebabe]

It's kind of like when Arnold was elected in CA. Anybody but Blagojevich again. Blago is a rebel, no respect for the rule of law, ie; drugs from Canada and the like.

I am outraged that Chicago has hijacked the entire great state of IL. There is no fair representation of all people in IL when Chicago runs it all.

[spintreebob]

Chicago didn't hijack the state. George Lyan applied assisted suicide to the IL GOP.

LaHood can't win the primary unless he is the only candidate for corruption and the good government/ conservative vote is split 3 or 4 ways, which is quite possible.

If LaHood does win the primary, many Republicans and virtually all independents will remember how they regret voting for Lyan over Proshard and will go Dem.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Politics1 mentioned Jonathan Wright, who was a GOP Senate candidate in 2004 (I don't think he did very well), as a possible candidate to run for Ray LaHood's House seat should LaHood run for Governor. Wright is a young conservative, right? Can anyone tell me about him?

[BillyBoy]

Hello all,

As the creator of www.NOLaHood.com , I thought I’d chim in on this little discussion. ;-) Much of your speculation about LaHood’s background and the nature of the 18th district can be found on that site.

To summarize, all those who posted that LaHood is a George Ryan type RINO who stabs his own party is the back was quite correct. LaHood was on record endorsing his “buddy” George Ryan for a 2nd term yet he went on the attack against our first Republican Senator in 20 years, Peter Fitzgerald, and told the media we could “do better” than Fitz because the Senator was independent and didn’t bring home the bacon to Mayor Daley (LaHood LOVES the mayor of Chicago). LaHood later trashed Jack Ryan’s campaign at every turn (long before any scandals even came up), and gave a de facto endorsement to Obama. After Obama and Melissa Bean’s win, LaHood even stooped to holding a press conference to gloat how Illinoisans would somehow have more “clout” in D.C. now that we have a majority Democrat delegation.

LaHood’s central Illinois district is about as “safe” as you can get, despite the city of Peoria being marginally Dem. The district as a whole has voted consistently Republican since the civil war era. The last time a Democrat won that seat was around 1916 or so. LaHood puts an “R” next to his name and established a marginal Republican record to “win” in the 18th, plain and simple. Even a pro-life Democrat is going to have an extremely hard time winning the 18th as a whole, and I don’t foresee any chance of a Dem pickup unless the GOP nominated a known child molester or something along those lines.

I’m happy LaHood has tossed his hat into the ring for Governor so we can defeat him in the primary and elect a REAL Republican in the 18th. LaHood “inherited” the job from Bob Michel and has never faced anything more than token opposition in the general. In the only real campaign LaHood ever faced, his 1982 campaign for state rep., he was defeated.

Jonathan Wright is a great conservative who is deputy Republican committeeman for the 18th and very, very popular in his home county (he got twice as many votes in the primary as Jack Ryan did there). I have heard he’s now principle of some elementary school and reluctant to run for office again, though my site hopes to start a petition to “draft” him for the job because he’d be the strongest candidate in the primary and the general. I’m not sure about David Ransburg or Stu Umholtz, but I will look into them and consider doing profiles about them on my site. The “powers that be” in LaHood’s district have anointed Peoria county officials for the last century, so I’m sure LaHood is looking to anoint a “heir apparent” in Peoria. We cannot allow a LaHood clone to skate through an uncontested primary.

Have you seen THIS man before?

[JohnnyZ]

Glad to see you're keeping busy, BB! Good luck -- you'll need it.

[hgro]

You have LaHood nailed. The guy is an opportunist of the first order. Even Bob Michael was better and thats not saying much. Too, what about our exalted Leader of the House. That guy is dumb personified. He couldn't make it as a coach so he became a politician.