News Flash: Running for Congress Takes More Than Minimal Effort
By jbonham76 Posted in 2008 — Comments (55) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
"Wait, running for Congress takes time and money!?! NOW YOU TELL ME??"
That's a quick synopsis of why Republican Nominee Tim Baldermann, who is/was running to fill the vacated seat in Illinois's 11th Congressional District- which was bound to be one of the most hottest congressional races this year, has decided to drop out.
Baldermann, 41, said that until the primary was finished, he was unaware of how time consuming his campaign would be.
He said when he ran for mayor he had no trouble fulfilling his duties as police chief, despite critics who said it could not be done. But campaigning in a large congressional district and raising the money to run a legitimate campaign would require all of his time and attention over the next nine months.
"That wouldn't be fair to the people of Chicago Ridge, New Lenox, or my wife and children," Baldermann said. Link
Why does this remind me of how republicans lost the Senate race in 2004, which in turn gave us a certain senator who has garnered little media attentions since?
I am still a little shocked that someone could run and win the Republican nomination for a congressional seat and not understand it would take a lot of personal investment- as if it would be his Saturday morning hobby. But the fact of the matter is...we're screwed.
The amount of incompetence in a party that should be capitalizing on a governor more unpopula than Bush, a Demcoratic Party with a scandal every week, and a mayor thats a crook like his father, yet the GOP is did in IL. Why-stupid stuff like this. IL needs a Bobby Jindal.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
...the latter of which keeps shooting itself in the foot (thankfully they at least don't aim higher), we are likely to be kissing goodbye to the electoral votes for those states, which is like starting a chess match at rook (or perhaps queen) odds.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
...how they drafted Alan Keyes to run against Obama for the senate seat in '04, after Mike Ditka declined the honor...
The IL GOP is a trainwreck and it is extremely frustrating.
Topinka is a disaster.
The simple fact is, there are a heck of a lot of Democrats, liberals even, in blue blue Illinois who loathe Blagojevich, shudder at the thought of Lisa Madigan, see corrupt machine politics for what they are, and would happily vote GOP at the state level if given half an excuse. Maybe not for a Jim Oberweiss, but for a Bobby Jindal, absolutely.
followed 20 years of corrupt GOP rule culminating in our jailbird Gov George Ryan. The people here were going to give the Dems a chance no matter what and now we are suffering under a second Blago term. Unfortunately, since there are few young Republicans untainted by the previous administrations we will probably get another Dem that unseats Blago in the primary and coasts to victory over token GOP opposition.
and this is a really competitive seat so I take it the Dems will win this one easily now
Illinois Republicans is there any top tier candidate who can get in and compete against Holvorson?
It's bad man-the Ryan scandals ahve cast a large stench over trhe GOP. We trot out the same 3 people of Oberweis, Jim Ryan, and Bill Brady every election, and they are just as unexciting and uninspiring each year we try it, although Oberweis is likely to finally get in Congress this year.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
I'd liek idea, and he might play well in Chicago, but I don't see him getting into politics. He
s a walking eruption and scandal waiting to happen.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
Williams? which is not a good sign of the ability to reason. I love the guy and loved the 85 Bears....da bears...but he blew any semblance of reality with that pick.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion
Is Topinka live in this area? We need someone to make this a race; you don't just let the other side walk away easily in district like this.
She's barely barely more fiscally conservative than Blago, but she's honestly not the type of peson I want anywhere near political office. Oh and she's pro AWB too.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
Thanks for the translation.
I'm starting to wonder if the IL GOP (and perhaps CA GOP) leadership are just the drop-outs from the Democratic state School of Corruption and Influence Peddling.
Of the Chicago school of corruption and scandal headed by Dean Daley.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
I remember her from when I lived in the Chicago area centuries ago.
Okay, I'm really not that old but the '80's do seem like centuries ago.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
Any signs he might be interested?
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
If I were IL GOP chair, I'd be having lunch with Erika Harold. Of course, if I wasn't married I'd probably try to do the same for entirely apolitical reasons.
Anyway, she should run for something at some point. Sooner the better in my mind. A new, interesting narrative and an interest in public service. Congress might be a high starting point, but if a district seems right maybe they should recruit her.
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She looks good but we need someone who is tried and tested under some intense pressure. Not sure if walking down run way equates to that
Was that guy. I had been reasonably impressed by his background and skills when I had heard him speak at the IL training day back in November, and thought he was a nice guy when I talked to him some more later. ON paper he was fantastic. Then you this happens and you just wonder what in the worls is going on.
I hope it was actually blackmail or something. At least then I won't think he's just a dunce.
Now that's some hope and change I could believe in-I'd even do an "I've got a crush on my Congresswoman" video for her. We like hope and change in IL-in all seriousness I'd definietely love to see someeone like her in office. Might even make me stay in Illinois.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
1) Meet her. I suggest going to some Young R events or seeing if she is doing any speaking engagements. She seems to be active in the R community, so it can't be too hard.
2) Tell her that you think she should run for something and you will do everything you can to help her win.
3) Get her number.
4) Follow-up.
5) Don't give up.
And see where it goes from there :)
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More Erika if you're interested.
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Donate to the Rs in Close Senate Races through Slatecard
Suddenly the next Young R meeting in Illinois seems to be so...enchanting.
"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will."-John McCain
McCain/Rudy 08-kill the terrorists and punch the hippies.
I realize he fell down hard but I still thought Jack Ryan was great candidate. Down all scream at me!
from IL and Obama should be a nobody.
His personal life, past history, should not have mattered considering how Bubba defiled the presidency. But, as you know, there is quite a double standard regarding those matters.
Jack Ryan was a MAJOR disaster waiting to happen. Just after he won the Republican nomination and before the scandal broke, I was actually hearing very tawdry rumors about him when I was living in Washington. And these were from fellow Republicans.
Thinking about it, there should be some sort of law in Illinois where a Republican with the last name of "Ryan" cannot run for office. "George,""Jim" and "Jack"; and not related to one another. Although to be fair, Jim Ryan's only offense was having the last name of "Ryan."
He is a good and decent man and a fine public servant who was never involved in any of the GOP scandals in Illinois and because his last name was Ryan he lost a couple of big elections here.
for Jack Ryan to defile the Senate? If you think Clinton's personal issues made him a bad President, then you should think that Ryan should have been disqualified for office also. Isn't it you who has the double standard?
and he didn't abuse a power position to take advantage of someone who worked for him.
And his ex-wife was supporting him in his race for Senate even though they had a messy divorce.
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By having a campaign worker follow his opponent around 24/7 and video him? Sorry, Jim Webb did the same thing.
Jack Ryan's personal life should have never been made public.
But that is only private for dems. Do your research and you will find that none of the allegations were ever proven.
And, Jack Ryan is not related to George Ryan.
Lastly, Jack Ryan did not get on prime-time TV and lie to the American public about allowing a young intern to blow him while he was supposed to being doing the people's business. And Jack Ryan did not perjure himself.
Given what I am seeing and learning about Barack Obama, yeah, I would take Jack Ryan over him anyday.
Beyond that, there wasn't even a real scandal.
The "scandal" was that him and his WIFE (not intern, not mistress, not secretary, his wife) was at a weird club with him, and he asked if she wanted to have sex. She said no, so they didn't.
Weird? Alright, fine. I think sex clubs like that are a little weird. His suggestion might be a little creepy.
But that's about it. He's got to be the first person on the planet who lost an election because he asked HIS WIFE to have sex with him, and when she said she didn't feel like it, he respected her wishes.
"I ain't never votin' fo another Democrat so long as I can draw breath! I'll vote for a dog first!" - Leola Thomas
Don't forget though that it was his fellow Republican opponents who forced this info into public view. The information was from his divorce and was sealed to protect the Ryans' child from this salacious story.
From wiki-
Five years later, when Ryan's Senate campaign began, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have the records released.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ryan_%28Senate_candidate%29
a bad president because he liked bl*w j*bs from young girls.
Or because he cheated on his wife. That just makes him a liar and a cheat.
I think he was a bad president because he left this country vulnerable to attack and because he couldn't make a decision without measuring the polls first.
This is a national problem. We have too many paper candidates, that are unwilling to spend several hours out of each day shaking hands, kissing babies, knocking doors, etc.
...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...
---Thomas Paine---
House Republican campaign officials — already hindered by a big disadvantage in the number of “open” seats they have to defend this year — suffered a blow Friday in their efforts to hold one that already was particularly vulnerable to Democratic takeover. The GOP now faces an emergency recruiting job in Illinois’ politically competitive 11th District after local officeholder Tim Baldermann, the winner of a competitive primary just two and a half weeks earlier, unexpectedly declined the nomination.
In light of Baldermann’s withdrawal, CQ Politics has changed its rating on the Illinois 11 race to Democrat Favored from No Clear Favorite.
Baldermann’s dropout — which he attributed to the problems he faced juggling the responsibilities of his local positions with an intense campaign for Congress — is a setback to the Republican Party’s already uncertain efforts to retain control of the district. The Democrats are fielding state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, one of their strongest open-seat candidates in this year’s House elections.
Halvorson is running to succeed retiring seven-term Rep. Jerry Weller . He is one of 24 House Republicans who are either voluntarily retiring or running for other offices, compared with just five Democrats who have voluntarily left their seats open.
The Republicans do have the opportunity, though, to make a more competitive contest out of it by November — if they can persuade a strong candidate to make a prompt decision to enter the race. That is because Illinois law allows party officials plenty of leeway to replace nominees who drop out after winning primary contests. Republican officials have until early April to select a new candidate.
Though the 11th District, a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas south and west of Chicago, isn’t exactly a Republican stronghold, it has enough of a GOP lean that the party’s planners will strongly resist the idea of just surrendering it to the Democrats. President Bush took 53 percent of the district’s votes in the 2004 election. Although Weller slipped a bit to 55 percent in his 2006 contest, he generally won his races by more comfortable margins.
Finding a new, strong candidate from scratch this late in the campaign may be difficult for the Republicans, though, especially since Halvorson has a sizable head start on fundraising and could benefit from the increased possibility that the presidential candidate at the top of the Democratic ticket may be Illinois Sen. Barack Obama .
It is possible that GOP officials will consider one of the two Republicans who also ran in the Feb. 5 11th District primary: Terry Heenan, an airline pilot, and Jimmy Lee, a former executive director of the White House Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. But both lost decisively to Baldermann in the primary.
According to the Web site of the Herald News in Joliet, Ill., Baldermann said in a statement that he could not balance a congressional campaign with his responsibilities as the mayor of New Lenox, a suburb 35 miles southwest of Chicago, and as the chief of police in the community of Chicago Ridge.
“I have reached the conclusion that I cannot ably serve the citizens of those two municipalities while also running a full-time campaign for Congress,” Baldermann said.
Baldermann also badly lagged Halvorson in campaign fundraising, a process he publicly admitted to loathing. Through Jan. 16, the latest date for which official figures are available, Baldermann reported raising just $104,000. That was less than one-fourth of the $428,000 in total receipts reported by Halvorson.
Halvorson had an even wider advantage in campaign cash on hand — $394,000 to $50,000 — because she was unopposed for the Democratic nomination while Baldermann had to spend money on his primary campaign.
For the moment, Halvorson’s only remaining opponent for the November ballot is Jason Wallace, the Green Party nominee.
what are the chances of getting Weller to "unretire" like Shaddegg?
I believe Weller has some ethical questions hanging over his head?
Anyways, this is such a joke not only to ILGOP but also NRCC here we have a district Bush carried and yet we at the moment are waving the flag cause this lady has less then 400,000 (its a lot money but not in politics)
If he dos have ethical problems, I guess not. With all the GOP retirements, it's hard to keep track of some of them.
Hopefully the local GOP can pick a good candidate.
Update some possible Republican replacements:
State Sen. Chris Lauzen has not considered a November congressional run in a nearby district where the Republican nominee plans to drop out the race — at least not yet.
"Let me give that some thought," he said Saturday when asked if he would be interested in taking over for New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann, who said he will withdraw from the race in the 11th Congressional District after winning the GOP nomination earlier this month.
Other possible candidates named in the Sun-Times story are state Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont, state Rep. Dan Brady of Bloomington and former Will County Board Executive Joe Mikan. Runners-up in the 11th District Republican primary were pilot Terry Heenan and former White House aide Jimmy Lee.
IL 11 Open Seat Update
It could be the middle of next month before Republicans pick someone to replace Tim Baldermann on the 11th Congressional District ballot. With speculation swirling over who will be named to the unexpected opening, GOP officials in the district say they likely won't make a decision until after March 5.
Among those mulling a run include Martin Ozinga III, owner of a Chicago-area concrete and construction company.
Sen Lauzen is not running he has no roots in district. "I was called. I'm not interested," said state Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa. Similarly, state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said he's happy in his current job and wants to run again for governor in 2010.
Other names floated over the weekend include state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who mulled a run earlier, but opted against it. Terry Heenan of New Lenox, who came in second to Baldermann in the Feb. 5 primary, also is interested in the post.
Jim Tomasik