That said, obviously Brady is weaker than he was in 2006 and his flip-flop on SB600 is disappointing. One of the things that made Brady more appealing that Oberweis in '06 was Brady had a solid record of standing up for conservative principles, whereas Oberweis seemed to change every election cycle (pro-keeping Roe legal in 2002, against Roe in 2004, okay with RINO Kjellander as RNC committeeman in 2004, adamently against RINO Kjellander in '06, etc.) If Brady is going to flip-flop on SB600, he's no better than Oberweis was. (but I'm never gonna believe that Brady spent millions of his own money in 2006 simply to split the conservative vote and get RINO Topinka nominated, that's Oberweis kool-aid drinker stuff from his fan club who simply can't admit Oberweis should have put aside his ego and sat out one campaign cycle)
I went to Adam Andrzejewski's website ( http://www.adamforillinois.com )and was not impressed. He's right on the issues, but I see nothing in his resume that leads me to believe he'd be a credible nominee for Governor. There are thousands more like him around the state, and no one would consider them gubernatorial material. John Cox was a total dud as a statewide candidate but even his resume from the "private sector" was far more impressive than this guy. My resume has FAR more political experience than Adam's and I certainly wouldn't consider myself to be a viable candidate for Governor! I don't get what's with all these conservative flocking to him. That another problem with the conservative movement in the state -- we have a big segment of conservatives who keep trying to go from nothing to the top office in the state overnight. Do conservatives here have a aversion to running PROVEN WINNERS for major office or what? Haven't we learned from the last couple of "wealthy businessmen" the GOP ran in Illinois that they're extremely unlikely to pull that off? I am sick and tired of seeing all these socialist RATs run unopposed for local office because we have so many conservatives unwilling to work their way up. Adam sounds like a nice guy but he should run for State Rep. or something before he tries for the most powerful office in the state. And everytime I ask his supporters to point to his qualifications, or tell me what exactly makes Adam special that he will somehow succeed when dozens of others from the "private sector" failed to win a statewide big overnight, they get pissed off. Chicagolady ran for a Congressional seat, a district 1/19th the size of a statewide campaign, and I could easily point to her proven leadership qualities, such as leading the way to found the Illinois Minutemen. This guy's sole "political experience" seems to be starting an organization in 2008 that no one has ever heard of. Seriously, he needs to think smaller.
Draft Chris Lauzen for Governor? An interesting idea, though I'd like to see him rethink his decision not to run for Congress again. He'd be a very solid nominee against either Foster or Halvelson, and represents parts of both districts (though again, it will obviously be harder for him to win now that the "wealthy private-sector businessmen" the GOP ran in 2008 lost those Republican seats to a RAT). Remember, Chris Lauzen already ran statewide once, for Comptroller in 1998. Most people thought it would be a close race, but Dan Hynes beat him pretty decisively. No doubt the RATs would bring that up.
Ideally, I would like to see conservatives draft (Illinois Supreme Court justice) Bob Thomas for Governor. Now there's a guy who has a PROVEN track record as both a solid conservative and a winning candidate for major office. Remember, judges are elected at every level in Illinois, so Thomas remains undefeated in every one of his bids over the years (DuPage County Circuit Court, Illinois Appellate Court, Illinois Supreme Court). He was elevated to Chief Justice at both the county and state level, so he's already been the top elected official in one branch of Illinois government) Granted, the district he was elected to for the state Supreme Court (2nd district) is considered a "safe" Republican district, but Thomas had to win a really tough contested primary, against "moderate" Bonnie Wheaton (who had big clout, her family FOUNDED Wheaton, Illinois), and the incumbent(appointed) Supreme Court justice, Louis Rathje, who had more experience and could also point to a reliable conservative record. In an upset, Thomas won handily. Plus the guy is a former kicker for the Chicago Bears and thus is something of a celebrity candidate ala Mike Dikta. He just needs to shave the beard if he runs for Governor though, ala Raushenberger). And I know Thomas state publicly that he would not be a candidate for Governor in 2006, but that was because Blago was the incumbent. Blago is now out of the picture and we have unelected sitting Governor pushing an unpopular income tax hike proposal. I think Thomas would be a great candidate, if we can get him to run.
