Posted on 01/08/2007 10:16:05 AM PST by Chi-townChief
WASHINGTON -- The 2008 Senate election may seem far away, but the battered Illinois Republican Party already is running late if it plans to challenge Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. No Republicans have stepped forward to say they will run against Durbin, and no one seems to be on the sidelines preparing to jump in.
"This is really becoming a problem for us," said Illinois Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville).
Although the election is 22 months away, that's not a particularly long time in politics; the deadline to qualify for the ballot is less than a year away. When Democrats wanted the Senate seat held by Republican Peter Fitzgerald in 2004, three candidates were in the race 26 months ahead of time.
Fitzgerald isn't optimistic about his party's chances against Durbin, with whom he worked and sometimes clashed at the Capitol for six years.
"I think it would take a riverboat gambler for a Republican to run," he said. "Senator Durbin is a liberal Democrat, but the state as whole is a liberal Democratic state, and Senator Durbin makes few mistakes. He'd be hard to beat."
Nazi comparison
Some Republicans suggest a challenger could raise money from outside Illinois because Durbin, the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat, has become nationally known. He often appears on TV defending his party's positions, sometimes awkwardly. In June 2005, Durbin delivered a Senate floor speech comparing U.S. treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to the behavior of dictatorships, including the Nazis. Durbin later apologized, teary-eyed, saying he meant no disrespect to U.S. soldiers and simply was interpreting FBI memos.
State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) one of the state's key GOP leaders, said even though the "Nazi" statement would be a factor with some voters, Durbin still is a tough candidate.
''As chairman of the DuPage County Republican Party, I think Senator Durbin is in a stronger position to be re-elected today than a couple of years ago,'' he said. ''His stature has never been higher, and he's probably helped having Barack Obama as his senatorial partner.''
The closest Republicans may be to having a candidate is state Sen. Bill Brady of McLean County, who has been encouraged to run, spokesman Dan Egler said.
AP
PING
I nominate spintreebob for senator.
I'm an Illinois Republican. I'll run against the dumb ass Durbin. I'll be soundly defeated but at least there won't be a rino running against him. (I doubt that I could persuade the Illinois Republican party to put me on the ticket)
Sounds like our problem here in MA. The Republicans pretty much throw their hands in the air and give up without even trying. So typical and that's why Bawney Fwank keeps getting elected. I don't think he's ever had a challenger.
The Republican Party in Illinois is non-existent. Unless you can afford to monetarily back your own campaign, you can't run. It really is very sad, because unless you are a multimillionaire, no one in Illinois will ever know you exist. How can anyone possibly have a successful campaign against Durbin who is 70% funded by trial lawyers?
Beat Durbin?? There is one hat coUld do it...a
multi-milliomnir, that is female. and black...name
is OPRAH.. jk
Not hard to believe at all, actually. He's entrenched.
Nobody can beat a Catholic Pro Abortion Senators.
It sure seems that way.
A man who stands up in the Senate and compares our troops to Stalin's gulag gaurds and Pol Pot's murderers is 'hard to beat'? It makes me so depressed......
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I think Alan Keyes could beat him.
Very accurate assessment....
No, we have no "we". ;)
The Republican Party is a loose coalition of interests who are more at odds with each other than usual. Politicians who hold relatively safe seats aren't going to give them up to try for higher office in these times when they know only 30-50% of the party will support them, and they'll have to face just as much opposition from the other Republican factions as they will from the Democrats.
Gotta go into the sports world and find a republican who is willing to enter the blood sport of politics...Mike Ditka's name came up once before...how about it MIKE?
I don't know, things are looking bad in Colorado and Montana
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