Bush Aide Resigns to Explore Ill. Senate Run

FoxNews.com ^ | July 9, 2004 | Associated Press

[AuH2ORepublican]

Bush Aide Resigns to Explore Ill. Senate Run Friday, July 09, 2004

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The deputy director of President Bush's drug-control office resigned Friday to explore a run for the U.S. Senate in place of Jack Ryan (search), the Republican nominee who dropped out over sex club allegations.

Andrea Grubb Barthwell (search), a Chicago-area physician, had been deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (search) in Washington since 2002, focusing on reducing demand for drugs.

Federal law barred her from seeking the Republican nomination while she worked for the government. Michael Barnes, an attorney and Barthwell friend, said she will now talk to Illinois GOP officials to gauge their interest in having her run.

"If there is an interest, she would be willing to pursue it," Barnes said. "It would be a great opportunity for her to serve."

Drug czar John Walters praised Barthwell in a statement issued after her resignation. "Her passion for protecting the health of all Americans has been inspiring," he wrote. "We wish her well in her future endeavors."

If Barthwell were chosen to face off against Democrat Barack Obama (search), it would be the first time in history that two black candidates battled as the parties' nominees for a U.S. Senate seat.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Dr. Barthwell, Bush's deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is very anti-drug, and may be able to cut into Obama's margins among inner-city blacks, since drugs have done so much damage to black ghettoes and since she is a black woman from Chicago (as opposed to Obama, who barely knew his black Kenyan father and who was raised by his white mother and grandparents in Hawaii and Indonesia--- see http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040531fa_fact1 ).

Dr. Barthwell is an intriguing candidate, whose lack of name ID would quickly change if she was the GOP nominee. But since her position on issues other than drugs is still a mystery, I don't think we should jump on her bandwagon just yet.

[AuH2ORepublican]

*ILLINOIS SENATE PING*

Do any of you know anything about Dr. Andrea Grubb Barthwell? Other than the fact that she's a black physician from Chicago, Bush's deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and is strongly anti-drug, I know nothing about her.

[sinkspur]

I'd vote for Mike Ditka. Pumped on Cialis, comity in the Senate would suffer a serious blow from Iron Mike.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I just heard this story earlier today. I had never heard of her (apparently Speaker Hastert had no idea, either). I just did a googlesearch on her, and during her confirmation back in 2001, this was what the late liberal Sen. Paul Wellstone had to say about her:

"Dr. Barthwell is extraordinarily qualified for this position and the Administration would be fortunate to have her expertise readily available as the lead White House advisor on domestic drug and alcohol treatment and prevention issues." Senator Wellstone urged the Senate to confirm Dr. Barthwell quickly, adding, "Her contributions will be invaluable as the White House implements the President's addiction treatment expansion initiative, one which could go a long way to help our country effectively deal with the serious domestic drug addiction problem that it faces."

Dr. Andrea Grubb Barthwell

[fieldmarshaldj]

Y'know, I actually think Ditka is enough of an audacious choice to run the guy (which would definitely throw Obama for a loop). But the question is what are his positions ? He may be enough to cut into the Chicago ethnic voting bloc dramatically (such as the Rostenkowski-Blagojevich-Emanuel district as well as Lipinski's), which is an absolute must now. At this point, we've got precious little to lose where IL is concerned.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Da Honorable U.S. Sen. Michael Keller Ditka (R-Illinois)

[JohnnyZ]

Mrs. Ditka said she'd kill him if he ran

[SoCar]

Honestly, at this point it doesn't even matter what his positions are. All I want to know is that he supports Bush, has an R after his name, and is loyal enough never to pull a Jeffords. Right now we are forfeiting this seat to Obama. We need a big name with likability. This is no time for an underfunded unknown, no matter how good on paper. Draft Ditka.

Any other celebrities with right leanings residing in IL?

[SoCar]

Why does the Mrs. not want him to run? Is it because of the scrutiny or is she a Lib?

[California Patriot]

Wow. What a pathetic candidate. She'll get 30 percent of the vote.

Bring on Coach Ditka.

[Clintonfatigued]

I've never heard of her, but I'm intrigued. A race between two African-Americans would generate a lot of publicity. Now that Steven Rauchenberger has dropped out, there are only little-known candidates, and Dr. Barthwell could at least make the race interesting.

[California Patriot]

Don't know, but rich women are usually liberals.

And Republican wives tend not to be too keen on their husbands getting into politics.

The Dems rarely seem to have this problem. Maybe because the upper social circles have become increasingly Democratic, making a Democratic candidacy more socially acceptable among friends than a Republican candidacy.

[California Patriot]

I'd rather have a boring race that we can win.

The media might pay a bit more attention if there were 2 black candidates, but it would still favor the Democrat.

Blacks do not vote for black Republicans. This has been demonstrated time and time again. The key to growing the Republican vote is the white working class, especially white working-class men. And Coach Ditka is the ticket.

His wife's opposition, if in fact she's against the idea, is sorely disappointing. Oh, for the days when wives supported their husbands' ambitions instead of vetoing them.

[California Patriot]

I'd rather have a boring race that we can win.

The media might pay a bit more attention if there were 2 black candidates, but it would still favor the Democrat.

Blacks do not vote for black Republicans. This has been demonstrated time and time again. The key to growing the Republican vote is the white working class, especially white working-class men. And Coach Ditka is the ticket.

His wife's opposition, if in fact she's against the idea, is sorely disappointing. Oh, for the days when wives supported their husbands' ambitions instead of vetoing them.

[Clintonfatigued]

You're right, if Coach Ditka is interested, he's the man! I hope that he goes for it. But if he isn't interested, than Dr. Barthwell is probably the best option left.

[California Patriot]

If Ditka or one of the former governors won't run, the seat is down the toilet. If Barthwell is the nominee, the leaders of the party, including Bush, will feel obliged to waste time campaigning for her -- and waste money funding her -- simply because she's black and a woman.

Money and time that could better go to several other states.

[Abram]

I have seen that she has resigned to look at the race. I am not very optimistic with her chances. Obama is very charismatic and the whole Democratic machine is backing him. The dear doctor does not seem to have a lot of name recognition, but I am hoping that the Ds will need to concentrate some money on that race so that they cannot divert it elsewhere into more competitive races such as NC, SC, LA, and OK.

[Abram]

There is a lot of talk about Coach Ditka. Any word on our chances of getting him to run? What type of Senator would he be?

http://www.politicalwire.com/

[ChuckK]

From www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=17492 .....

"[Barthwell] has been politically active over the past few years and has financially supported at least two Democrats -- $250 to Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2001 and $1000 in 2000 to Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman, and one Democratic organization, the 8th Ward Regular Democratic Organization. Illinois State Board of Election records show no contributions to Republicans.

At the federal level, she financially supported Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. with a donation of $1500 in 2000."

I'd hope that even the Illinois GOP could find a better candidate than this.

[BC girl]

I live in Chicago, and Iron Mike still represents the Christ child in the holy trinity of the da Bears, da Cubs, and Mike Ditka. People in Chicago might need to excuse themselves from voting since separation of church and state issues could be a problem. Several times a week there are sighting of him walking on the water of Lake Michigan. These have never been confirmed, but he could get elected to anything in this town.