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Illinois has long been a blue state, mainly because of the way Chicagoans lean. But if state Republicans had hopes of gaining, or even maintaining ground last Tuesday, their hopes were quickly quashed. Democrats ousted Republicans in the race for governor and in two key congressional districts, and the General Assembly locked in Democratic supermajorities in both houses. So where do Republicans in Illinois stand today, and what’s to come?

Darin LaHood gets GOP nod to replace Risinger in senate Attorney selected over five candidates including Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis Darin LaHood makes a reference to his opponent Kevin Lyons during their State's attorney race debate in 2008. By PATRICK OLDENDORF (poldendorf@pjstar.com) Peoria Journal-Star Feb 26, 2011 PEORIA — "Humbled" was how Darin LaHood described himself Saturday afternoon, shortly after being appointed the new state senator for the 37th District. The Peoria attorney defeated five other candidates to replace state Sen. Dale Risinger, who announced his retirement earlier this month after being re-elected in November. "There were many other...

Bill Brady's Loss To Pat Quinn: Note To Fiscal Conservatives: Fiscal & Social Issues Are Related And Do Matter After State Sen. Bill Brady lost the Illinois gubernatorial race to Pat Quinn, it was no surprise to me. If the election was close enough, the Daley Democratic Machine would find some way to make sure Quinn had the votes to hand him the election. I am 56 years old and I lived in Chicago for the first 50 years of my life. I remember how the presidential election was stolen from Richard Nixon in 1960. As usual, late returns from...

At a get-out-the-vote gathering Sunday morning at a Bronzeville restaurant, Congressman Danny Davis responded to U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk's suggestion to Republican activists that voter integrity squads be on site for voting in Chicago's black neighborhoods, which tend to vote Democratic. "Rep. Kirk thinks something will happen to his vote in these neighborhoods," Davis said. "Well, I'm here to tell him he's not getting any votes here. My question is why would he target areas that historically vote Democrat?" Vote drive Recently, without his knowledge, Kirk was caught on tape saying, "I have now funded the largest voter integrity...

According to the U.S. Justice Department, some counties in Illinois may have missed the deadline for mailing absentee ballots to members of the military and other overseas American voters as part of a new federal overseas voting law. At least one county has already admitted its military ballots were not mailed by the September deadline. St. Clair County Clerk Bob Delaney says absentee ballots to military personnel didn’t get mailed in time because they were waiting on a court decision as to whether the Constitution Party candidates would be on the ballot. Top Republicans, as expected, wasted no time flooding...

The following open letter from Laurie Higgins to Illinois Republican Party leadership is posted below by RFFM.org with Mrs. Higgins permission. Higgins appeals to GOP leaders, urging Mark Kirk to bow out of the Senate race "for the good of the party." Higgins joins a growing chorus of conservatives who believe Kirk should be encouraged to do what's best for not only Illinois Republicans, but the integrity of the political process as well. Laurie Higgins is an influential pro-family activist and a widely read columnist. Higgins has a background as an educator. Her articles and columns have been published across...

On July 30, 2009, I wrote a commentary titled "Mark Kirk's U.S. Senate Bid Doomed: When Will GOP Ever Learn?" http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2009/07/-mark-kirks-us-senate-bid-doomed-when-will-gop-ever-learn-.html I wrote the commentary long before the recent revelations regarding Kirk's exaggeration of his military service. On Sunday, June 13, 2010 the Chicago Tribune ran a major article which will put a damper on a political candidate which was forced upon Republican voters by the Illinois GOP leadership. From the beginning, Kirk was out of step with GOP social and fiscal conservatives. Kirk's voting record in support of abortion rights, his anti-Second Amendment votes in Congress and Kirk's support...

First let me begin by stating the following commentary is not an endorsement of Adam Andrzejewski's gubernatorial bid who is seeking the GOP nomination in the February 2nd primary. But I must provide full disclosure regarding my prior relationship with former state Sen. Patrick O'Malley. My wife Julie and I know O'Malley well. He was our state Senator when we lived in Crestwood, Illinois in southwest Cook County. We care for him deeply and always will. As a private citizen, I supported his bid for the GOP gubernatorial primary in 2002. Then-Attorney General Jim Ryan went on to defeat O'Malley...

To sum up the state of the Republican Party in Illinois, just hours before the kickoff of "Republican Day" festivities at the Illinois State Fair, Andy Mckenna, the head to the state party resigned... Just 8 short years ago, the Republican Party in Illinois remained a force to be reckoned with. The party maintained control of a majority of municipality and county governments within the state, along with control of the Governor's office, several State Officers positions and the State Senate. But today, despite a golden opportunity to retake control of key State Offices due the Impeachment of Rod Blagojevich,...

Update, 4:17 p.m.: Although Kirk has already told several national Republicans today that he will not run for the Senate, there is an ongoing effort now to convince him to re-think that decision, according to several sources close to the discussions. Pressure is now being brought to bear on Andy McKenna, who, according to knowledgeable sources, had told Republicans insiders that he would not run if Kirk got into the race. Once Kirk signaled he was indeed running, however, McKenna reconsidered and made clear he would in fact stay in.

Treasury Secretary Geithner said President Obama is ready to remove bank CEOs in the same way he demanded the resignation of General Motors Corp.'s CEO, Rick Wagoner. See, http://twitter.com/IlGOPAssembly

On Monday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Nancy Cordes reported on perjury allegations against Illinois Senator Roland Burris and calls for his resignation: "Burris admits he did much more than just talk to one person, in fact, he says he talked to four other people with close connections and took three phone calls from the ex-governor's brother about raising money. In the down and dirty world of Illinois politics, some Republicans are calling on him to resign." In addition to bashing Illinois Republicans, Cordes’s report featured CBS legal analyst Andrew Cohen, who argued: "From a purely legal point of view, it...

The leadership title holders of the Illinois Republican Party have done it again. They have found a new bottom in the wellspring of incompetence from which they drink: Paul Vallas for Cook County Board President. "He'd be great for Republicans, great for Cook County, [with] impeccable credentials, substance and integrity." That is what House Republican Leader Tom Cross had to say about Paul Vallas to the Chicago Sun-Times. My view of Paul Vallas as a Republican standard-bearer is a bit different as mine is rooted in Vallas' record. It goes something like this: Paul Vallas is a visionless, bean-counting hack...

Ominous music. Grainy footage. Headlines showing that Obama--OMG!--once supported Blagojevich. References in news reports noting that Obama aides might have had talked to Blagojevich about filling the Senate seat Obama vacated. And the kicker: "Questions Remain." As the indictment filed against Blagojevich notes, the guv was not too pleased with the Obama camp. So it's unlikely that any talks that did occur were of the pay-to-play variety he fancied. But here's the bigger political picture: the GOP ought to be careful in deploying the usual political attacks against Obama in the near future. At a moment when the country confronts...

Six months ago, the conviction of Tony Rezko on federal corruption charges was met with unrestrained glee by those with leadership titles in the Illinois Republican Party. On November 4, Illinois Republicans lost two longtime GOP Congressional seats (those vacated by Hastert, Weller), a net three State Representative seats, and witnessed the incursion of Democrats on to county boards in what were once the hallowed Republican collar counties of Will, DuPage and McHenry. Last week, the arrest of Rod Blagojevich on federal corruption charges was met with unrestrained glee by those with leadership titles in the Illinois Republican Party. They...

The Illinois Republican Party has launched what they are calling a "grassroots campaign" to push for a special election where Illinois voters would decide who will take President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat. On Monday the party is launching a heavy statewide television advertising campaign and a round of live-connect calls informing voters of the special election possibility and asking them to contact their legislators in support of the measure. [ snip ]"Pat Quinn is part of Rod Blagojevich's administration and should not be allowed to pick the next U.S. Senator," said Republican DuPage county State's Attorney Joe Birkett. "When it...

Lately I have been talking with my good friend and fellow Republican Robert Klein Engler about the future of the Republican Party. Now with our Governor being arrested, wouldn't be nice to have a Republican Party who could move in and take the lead? Yeah, it would be nice, but the Republican Party in Illinois is so screwed up I am ashamed to even talk about it. They are just as corrupt as Blago! Anyway, Robert is a gifted writer and a professor in the Chicago Colleges. I want to share with you his thoughts about "The Future of the...

Conservatives steam over Sauerberg staffer Chris Barron, former Press Secretary for the Log Cabin Republicans , now Press Secretary for Sauerberg 2008 IL GOP candidate for U.S. Senate Steve Sauerberg stunned social conservatives last week when he announced the addition of a homosexual rights activist as his campaign's new press secretary. Christopher Barron, 36, was point man for the Log Cabin Republicans in their 2004 campaign against President George W. Bush's effort to add a federal marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. After discussion about the revelation broke out last week on Illinois Review (see Sauerberg: Personnel is Policy...

RFFM.org Commentary In 1994 Republicans steam-rolled their way into national Congressional power behind the ideals of moral certainty, fiscal responsibility and a promise to change the way things were done in Washington, D.C. However, it didn't take long for the trappings of political power to ensnare many of those who were swept into office by the 1994 Republican Revolution and, by the year 2000, it was hard to tell a Republican from a Democrat. Using the state of Illinois for an example, conservative members of the GOP probably reached their zenith of influence right around the time the national Party...

On the opening day of the Illinois Republican Party's quadrennial state convention in Decatur, please standby for this special message for Illinois Republicans: Hoping your political opponents get indicted is not an electoral strategy. The combination of euphoria and self-righteous indignation streaming out of GOP politicos on the occasion of Tony Rezko's conviction on public corruption charges this week is predictable if not well thought out. Considering he was elected Governor by running against that which has become the hallmark of his administration, it is natural for Republicans to delight in the possibility that Rod Blagojevich may soon be joining...