Posted on 01/09/2008 3:11:10 PM PST by PhilCollins
GOP rookies set sights on Durbin 1/9/2008
By Jim Jaworski News Sun
Three Republican candidates are vying to challenge incumbent Dick Durbin for his seat in the U.S. Senate.
While Durbin has name recognition, campaign funds and political power, the GOP hopefuls want to energize the party to take the primary Feb. 5 and upset the second-ranked Democrat in Congress.
Steve Sauerberg Sauerberg, who has never run for political office, has positioned himself as the front-runner by securing key endorsements from top Illinois GOP officials, including Illinois Republican Chairman Andy McKenna and Republican County Chairmen's Association President Randy Pollard.
Sauerberg, a 54-year-old family physician at La Grange Memorial Hospital, said the biggest issue in Illinois is immigration, specifically border control and the deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
"It may well be that when you control the border, there's a certain level of attrition," he said. "This problem may take care of itself and we may not have to run around and deport a bunch of people."
Sauerberg prefers a privatized health care system that can be fixed through cost cutting and more flexible insurance packages.
"I believe a negotiation in the free market between the consumers and insurance companies -- we can do a lot better than we are now," he said. "Our laws and regulations have made it virtually impossible."
Sauerberg's health-care plan includes a provision for a panel of three medical experts with three legal experts ruling on medical malpractice lawsuits and deciding monetary damages.
Either party can challenge the ruling in the appeals court, but the losing party would have to pay for the other's legal fees.
He said the situation is improving in Iraq and that American troops should not leave until the country is secure. Leaving too early, he said, would further damage Iraq and the Middle East.
Mike Psak Psak, a 47-year-old truck driver from Chicago, also running for the first time, is relying on a grassroots campaign.
Psak, conservative on almost every major issue, wants to make significant cuts in pork barrel spending and takes a tough stance on immigration, supporting deportation. Psak wants to reduce government spending, which he said contributes to a variety of problems, including the outsourcing of jobs to other countries where labor is cheaper.
"The reason our employees have to make more money than the rest of everyone else in the world is because we got a more expensive government," he said. "You got to pay more taxes, you got to make more money to pay them."
Lower taxes, he continued, would lower the cost of both labor and goods, keeping jobs in America.
Psak strongly supports the president in the war in Iraq.
"Once we committed troops and put them into harm's way, it is our responsibility as the civilian population to get behind the commander-in-chief until the troops come home," he said.
Andy Martin Andy Martin, 62, has unsuccessfully run for a variety of political offices in the past four decades, most recently in 2006 gubernatorial primary. He attempted a Senate run in 2004 but was removed from the ballot. He has also previously ran for office in Florida and Connecticut and in the 2000 presidential race.
He is a vocal critic of the Illinois Republican Party and its leadership, consistently throwing verbal jabs at both McKenna and Sauerberg. In fact, he was denied access to an Oak Brook GOP meeting for candidates in November.
He supports a strong transportation system, specifically a high-speed rail system in Illinois.
"We need high-speed rail because it will tie this area together," he said. "That is why it is so distressing to see this nonsense going on in Springfield."
He breaks party lines on some issues, by supporting an investigation into the mistreatment of terror suspects, for example, and he is opposed to the Iraq war.
Martin says he is the most viable candidate because he is the one who will be best at working with members of both parties.
He holds a degree in law from the University of Illinois, but the state Supreme Court denied him a license in 1973.
I just remember Mike Ditka saying on ESPN radio that if he had accepted the Illinois (R) party's request to run, we would have never even heard of B. Hussein Obama.
I doubt it will matter much who’s the nominee. Turban Durbin will be back to slander American soldiers for six more years.
Here’s a poster for ya:
‘De-seat Turban Durbin’
Ditka should’ve run, we were all prepared to support him. Of course, had the crooked RINO Establishment (the GOP wing of the Combine) not kneecapped Pete Fitzgerald, the best Senator from IL since Ev Dirksen, we would not have had to deal with Smiley O’bama today. Damn RINOs destroying our party one state at a time.
In retrospect a real bonehead move!!
Durbin has fell off the face of the earth here in Chicago. With Obama-mania getting 24/7 coverage in Chicago, people have forgot about Durbin.
Durbin may run for Governor in 2010.
Yup. And Ditka would’ve been the difference between minority and majority party status.
Durbin will have a lot of competition in the primary if he does. Pat Quinn (presuming he doesn’t become Governor before 2011, which increases in possibility by the day), Lisa Madigan, et al. Too bad we don’t have a single statewide officeholder that could make a run for it.
Is Rahm “Bat$hit” Emanuel planning on being Dickie’s replacement, or is he hoping to become the first Jewish Speaker ?
Durbin, IL’s senior senator is sadden that Obama is getting all the attention. Right now Durbin wants to focus on re-election and remind IL that he is the senior senator. Durbin has made no definite plans for governor yet.
“Is Rahm “Bat$hit” Emanuel planning on being Dickie’s replacement, or is he hoping to become the first Jewish Speaker ?”
I heard that Sen. Obama said that, if he isn’t elected president, he’ll run for governor, in 2010. If that happens, Illinois will have an open U.S. Senate race and a close governor primary race, for both parties.
Even better, let’s hope Emanuel NEVER becomes Speaker.
It will be interesting to see if he does run in 2010 if everyone else will get out of the way for him in the Dem primary. Clearly if he runs, he’s doing it to get “executive experience” so he can run for President again. We may have to contend with this guy as a serious danger for the next 20+ years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.