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I hate to say it but Neal has a good point or two about Dick Durbin although I wouldn't put too much stock in votes not received when running unopposed. The odd thing is that Durkin's McCain connection should help him out with our Illinois RINOs and wayward 'rats. We need to hold up the conservative end in this race and also try to get the word out early and often.

I hate to say it but Neal has a good point or two about Dick Durbin although I wouldn't put too much stock in votes not received when running unopposed.

Exactly right. Unopposed races typically score LOWER in actual votes count, than the rest of the ballot. Voters will typically get to a part of a ballot and see an unopposed candidate and skip punching the chad. The problem as Steve Neal points out is:

But an unusually large number of Democrats ignored Durbin. Nearly three-fourths of this dropoff was in Cook County, which provided 60 percent of the statewide Democratic primary vote. Durbin was ignored by 37.5 percent of Cook County Democratic voters.

Durbin's problem may in fact be that Durkin has close ties with certain segments of the Democrat electorate here in Illinois, notably C(r)ook County if Steve Neal is correct. While I have to pause with some concern that Durkin might be a McManiac clone, we can rest assured that Durkin won't be voting for things like tax increases, or DemocRATS for committee chairs in a tie Senate.

I would expect to see Durbin hitting on Durkin's pro-life voting record (screaming at women that Durkin will take away their "choice"), Durkin's statements that he wants to repeal the AMT as a "tax cut for the rich" and Durkin's voting record on school vouchers as a way of "defunding" the public schools.

I have to admit that Durkin wasn't my first choice, but the more I revisit his voting record on issues I care about deeply, the more I find myself liking him.

>> I hate to say it but Neal has a good point or two about Dick Durbin although I wouldn't put too much stock in votes not received when running unopposed. <<

True, but the article pointed out that Durbin did even worse than "unknown" Democrats that were ALSO running unopposed. Only two statewide offices actually had contested Dem primary's, A.G. and Governor. The fact that more people voted for Dart than Durbin is telling.

As for Durkin, it's true the McCain connection may help him more than hurt him (although Bush solidly beat McCain in the Illinois GOP primary) His cozy relationship to McCain bothers me a bit, but CFR is up in the air until the federal courts do something...and Durkin said he would NOT follow Fitzgerald and McCain's position on ANWR. ;-)