The lesson to be learned is pro-life conservatives should run. But they should not campaign "Vote for me because I am pro-life.
They should campaign saying "Vote for me because you and I agree on the issue you feel most strongly about. In Illinois, that means good govenment vs corruption for the winning candidate.
If the Oberweis "image" had been good government, anti-corruption, he probably would have won the primary. Instead, he, and especially his spokespeople, made anti-immigration his image. That split the conservative primary voter right down the middle. Some pro-immigration conservatives like me voted for Obie anyway.
But every time Obie's spokespeople blasted Brady/Gidwitz on immigration, it helped Brady. The anti-immigrant Brady/Gidwitz supporters did not abandon Brady on that issue. And many conservatives abandoned Obie on that issue.
The Parke-Crespo race certainly had immigration backlash overtones. Parke's campaign manager and asscoiates rant the primary anti-immigrant/anti-Froehlich because Froehlich had Hispanics in his organization. The anti-immigrant forces appeared mean-spirited and the suburban Republican... including conservatives ... wanted none of it. That anti-immigrant primary hurt Parke in November. The voters had developed that image that Parke was mean-spirited because his supporters were.
That doesn't mean an anti-immigrant candidate can't win. It just means he has to appeal to the pro-immigrant voters on other issues and not be a single issue candidate, and especially not mean-spirited in image.
We can learn lessons here from people like Peter Roskam, who bucked the trend and won open seats in an election where the GOP was being thrown out nationally. Roskam was also pro-life, anti-illegal immigration, but he didn't just appeal to those constiuencies.
As you know, I am one of the anti-immigration who did not abandon Brady. I did not abandon Brady for the same reason Corrine Wood couldn't get all the "pro-choice Republicans" to vote for her over Jim Ryan & Pat O'Malley. I am not a single-issue voter. While I agreed with Oberweis more on immigration, I found Brady to be better overall.
Oberweis had an admireable campaign theme in 2006. He had the cute "Got Gov?" logo and ran as the "reform" candidate, pledging to stop Kjellander. The problem is Oberweis was not anti-Kjellander until 2006, his third campaign. Rauschenberger was all about anti-Kjellander in 2004 and Oberweis said nothing at the time. It shouldn't take three campaigns for Oberweis to realize the grassroots dislike Kjellander.
John Cox couldn't credibly say "I'm the only real conservative" in 2002 and 2004 because his opponents pledged equally conservative platforms. Instead, John Cox came off as arrogant and holier-than-thou. If his primary opponents had been Judy Biggert & Sid Mathesis, then an "I'm the only real conservative" message might reasonate with primary voters.
Mitt Romney's message will work if it comes down to him and Giuliani, but not if he's saying "I'm the only true conservative" and Duncan Hunter is his opposition.
{The lesson to be learned is pro-life conservatives should run. But they should not campaign "Vote for me because I am pro-life.}
Bingo! Il conservatvies need to learn from Henry Hyde. He appealed to people who did not hold the strong views as he had. He was affable and respected by people who disagreed with him. Even radicial feminists don't hate him as much as they hate Bush.
BTW Spintreebob, I am in the mist of year end financial reporting and working Saturday. I will see if I can make it to Arlington Heights on Sunday.