Free Republic

The Fox News Decision Desk has determined that in Illinois, Democratic billionaire J.B. Pritzker will unseat Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. He’ll become the richest governor in U.S. history.

Finally, here are my more extended observations and comments from my family's attendance at the Trump rally in Southern Illinois, on 10/27/2018. I'll hit a few high points, but not spend a lot of time on what the President said -- here is a link where you can watch, yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4k_fH8Vk8 My intent is more to let people who've not been to one of these rallys "see" what they are like, or for those who've attended in the past, maybe see how they have evolved or in what ways this rally may have been a bit unique. I also take...

Trump rally live

Times updated! The rally will be held on Saturday, October 27 at 4:30 pm CDT. Doors will open at 1:30 pm CDT. http://www.donaldjtrump.com/rallies/il-oct-2018/ also http://www.kfvs12.com/video/2018/10/27/morning-look-airport-ahead-pres-trump-rep-bost-rally/ Offsite parking / shuttle still not announced - bummer!

MURPHYSBORO, IL. — U.S. Representative Mike Bost announced Sunday that President Donald Trump intends to visit Southern Illinois for a campaign rally on Saturday, October 27.

“We need steel,” he said. “We need steel plants. And to see an old, big monster plant like this re-opening — that is an honor. I look at the faces of you people; I could be one of you. I like you guys. I could be one of you.” That struck me as either sincere or an amazing facsimile. The workers, for their part, couldn’t give him a standing ovation because they never sat down. I left the hall thinking: Donald Trump is going to be re-elected in 2020. The Democrats don’t have anyone who can touch him. Bank on...

President Trump traveled to Granite City, Illinois to speak to steelworkers at the US Steel plant that reopened this year. Since President Trump enacted tariffs on foreign steel imports U.S. Steel has decided to restart both furnaces, meaning the return of 800 jobs. This afternoon local KSDK reporter spoke with one of the steelworkers at the Granite City plant. The man says he is a third generation steelworker and was out of work for two-and-a-half years. He then cries as he talks about President Trump and the life he has brought back to this eastern Illinois community. US Steel Worker:...

Protesters greeted President Trump on his visit to Granite City, Ill., with a giant balloon depicting him as a chicken. Trump delivered remarks at the U.S. Steel Co.'s Granite City Works, where he also took credit for the plant’s reopening following his increased tariffs on imports. Protesters lined up hours ahead of his visit to greet the president with the “Trump chicken” balloon and numerous signs attacking the president as a “liar,” calling for his impeachment, and slamming his controversial “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. (TWEET-AT-LINK) Last week, another 33-foot-tall inflatable blimp depicting Trump as a chicken captured headlines after it was...

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday trumpeted the renewed success of an Illinois steel mill, pushing back against criticism that his escalating trade disputes are hurting American workers and farmers. The president pointed to the U.S. Steel plant's reopening as a success story after he slapped tariffs on imported steel and aluminum last spring. On Wednesday, he and European leaders agreed to open talks on trade, a decision he called a breakthrough. "America never surrenders," Trump said in an address to workers at the company's steel coil warehouse in Granite City. "We don't wave the white...

An avowed anti-Semite, Holocaust denier and former leader of the American Nazi Party is set to become the Republican nominee for a congressional seat in Illinois, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sunday. Arthur Jones, 70, is running unopposed in the GOP primary for Illinois' 3rd Congressional District on March 20, making him a shoo-in to face the Democratic incumbent in the November election. Jones has stood for public office many times since the 1970s, always unsuccessfully.

A Republican lawmaker trying to unseat Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is standing by a campaign ad that has been blasted as racist and homophobic, despite the state party chairman's call for her to stop airing it and apologize. State Rep. Jeanne Ives, a social and fiscal conservative, said the ad that began airing this weekend illustrates the GOP governor's "chosen constituents based on the policy choices he made" and primary voters need to know about his record. The ad features actors portraying, among others, a transgender woman, an African-American Chicago Teachers Union member and a woman wearing a pink hat...

Grassroots support for Jeanne Ives’ gubernatorial bid continues to grow. Today, she adds the backing of the Wheeling Township Republican Organization (WTRO). Ninety percent (90%) of WTRO’s precinct captains voted to endorse Ives over incumbent Governor Bruce Rauner. Wheeling Township is a Republican stronghold. In 2014, more Republican primary votes were cast in Wheeling Township than in 89 of Illinois’ 102 counties.

In the summer and fall of 2015, many Illinois Republicans called for the party to retire incumbent US Senator Mark Kirk in the primary. Despite some party pressure, but obviously not enough, he refused to sit out the election. He campaigned for re-nomination, which scared both candidates and money out of the primary, and he won the spring… losing the fall as everyone predicted. Mark Kirk was elected narrowly in 2010, in a race that should have been a landslide even in Illinois. It was the best year for the Republican party in generations, and he was fortunate to have...

A wellness center connected to a church founded by Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush has received $650,000 in taxpayer-funded government grants in 2017, public records show and has pulled in more than $15 million in grants since 2008. Rush, who was first elected to Congress in 1992, founded the Beloved Community Christian Church, a non-denominational church located in Chicago, in 2002. (snip) "I founded a church in Englewood, one of Chicago's poorest and most fragile neighborhoods, and named it Beloved Community Christian Church," Rush wrote in a 2011 op-ed published in the Huffington Post. "The church, once the site of...

The lineup for Illinois’ 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary is firming up fast. So far, the six-candidate field is mostly white, and all male. To win, one of them must energize and capture the party’s crucial base. African-American voters should be asking: What have you done for me? What will you do for me? Public affairs consultant Alexandra Sims says they should be making deals. In the governor’s race, “what’s going to happen across the state and across Cook County is deals. And you want the black community to be part of those deals.”

Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is campaigning to replace Nancy Pelosi as the House minority leader. In an interview with the Washington Post, he argued that Democrats need a strategy for appealing to voters that doesn't rely on President Obama's personal popularity. “If we don’t have Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, we can’t win elections. That is an unsustainable model. He can’t run again, so it’s not even like we can say, well, every four years we’ll win.” Indeed, Barack Obama can't run again ... OR CAN HE??? Such is the question posed by this Change.org petition, which...

"There is no per­son in polit­ics that I think Demo­crats, in­de­pend­ents, and Re­pub­lic­ans would love to see take on pub­lic ser­vice more than the first lady," Thomas Bowen, a former top aide to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, told NJ's Karyn Bruggeman. . . . According to the report, Emanuel's seat could open in 2019, and Sen. Dick Durbin is considering a gubernatorial bid in 2018. "Ob­vi­ously she'd be qual­i­fied to run for just about any of­fice up and down the tick­et

President Obama’s nostalgic speech in Springfield has local politicos wondering what he has planned after leaving the White House. “I miss you guys,” Obama said during an address in the Illinois statehouse on the anniversary of his Presidential campaign announcement. He returned to his frequent theme of bringing civility and compromise to politics. Next year I’ll still hold the most important title of all, and that’s the title of citizen. And as an American citizen, I understand that our progress is not inevitable — our progress has never been inevitable. It must be fought for, and won by all of...