Hank, thank you for identifying the Republican in your midst (Congressman Joe Walsh). Nice to know that there might be a conservative pulse in the ‘almost ready to go bankrupt’ state of Illinois. How is this possible? How the hell did a guy like him get elected in the land of Rham and Obama? Is the state of Illinois redeemable or are you all merely subjects of the Chicago mob? Excuse me if I don’t ‘kiss the ring’.
I don’t know how far back you go, but in this past election Walsh defeated a Dem named Melissa Bean who represented the district for three terms. Before her, though, a true patriot named Phil Crane represented the district for about 30 years.
Crane was so conservative that I don’t think even many here would call him a RINO. Every session of congress he introduced legislation to privatize the post office. He was an early and vocal supporter of Ronald Reagan as well. He even had some tenuous connection with the John Birch Society. That district was really conservative for a very long time.
When I first moved into Palatine as a kid in 1969 it was considered on the outer ring of the Chicago suburbs (about 20 miles away). Over the years, though, more and more Chicagoans moved out and the people who fled the city decades earlier had to move even further North and West to places like Algonquin, McHenry, Island Lake and Cary to flee the consequences of liberalism they hoped they had left behind....so it eventually became a 50/50 district....but there is definitely a conservative pulse that still beats.
Anyway, I moved to East Texas 5 years ago so I’m not too up on Illinois politics any longer except to know that it’s pretty much beyond hope. Glad I left. I miss the restaurants, but that’s about it. I’ll take Texas, no snow and were I live anyway, not too many Democrats.
Hank