Posted on 11/07/2002 4:40:48 PM PST by Barnacle
By Kevin McCullough (kmc@wyll.com)
Opinions are coming in -- McCullough calls Illinois the "Vermont of the Midwest." OPINION -- Somewhere in the faint distance, I could hear voices calling my name. The fog that had settled into my brain had sucked all the life out of my concentration. For the past two hours, I had been sitting glued to the returns of our local Illinois races.
"Kevin, hey Kevin, yo Kev," the voice cut through the fog that seemed to fill the space I was in. It was the voice of Steve Binder, the campaign Press Secretary for Illinois Candidate for Attorney General, Joe Birkett. "Kev, Joe's getting his comments together and he's about to head down, you might want to head on and get a good spot."
For much of the evening, I had sat like a fly on the wall of the Birkett War Room. The numbers had been coming in and in recent minutes it looked like a spark had lit momentarily. With the Cook County numbers always being reported first, the numbers for Democrats and Liberals usually jump out to huge leads.
The interesting part about election returns in Illinois are that the Downstate numbers always come in last. And, as they do, they generally have benefited more traditional family candidates. This night would prove no exception. But the numbers were not what they needed to be for Birkett or for Jim Ryan, the Republican candidate for Governor. In the end, if a pro-family voter saw only the results in Illinois they would be endlessly discouraged.
To the office of Governor, we elected perhaps the most pro-Clinton Congressman ever, based almost solely on his voting record. To replace him in Congress, we elected a former Clinton Cabinet member. To our Attorney General's seat, we elected the most unqualified candidate to ever run for the office. But thanks to her political Sugar Daddy (her actual Father), she had the money almost 4 to 1 over her opponent, Birkett.
Mr. Birkett was everything in his concession that he has been as an elected State's Attorney, kind, honest and full of character. Repeatedly in the War Room last night, when the media would be crowding Birkett and his wife for yet another interview, they would try to get him to "go for the kill," but he refrained.
In the moments before he headed down to give the hardest political speech of his career, a supporter stopped by and wanted him to pray with her and he did. The affection he has for his wife and children was obvious as throughout the night, a hug, a pat on the back, a word of encouragement was always quick to be had.
Pro-family voters lost bad in Illinois. The days ahead for our state look scary. Rod Blagojevich, our new governor-elect is on record as supporting homosexual civil unions. Lisa Madigan, whose own somewhat suspect engagement looms, has promised to go after Crisis Pregnancy Centers. She calls them "phony" because they don't offer abortions.
So, in a state where never before seen public corruption has garnered headlines for the last two years, she will devote instead "the full power of her office of Attorney General" to "shut down" these clinics that are funded by voluntary contributions, that try to point girls towards helping them keep their babies or give them up for adoption. But that is only the beginning.
If Blagojevich intends to keep all the promises he has made over the course of his campaign, additional spending for our state will run close to 11 billion dollars by some estimates. Couple that new spending with the projected 2 billion dollar shortfall we already have and the idea that Illinois citizens won't be paying significantly higher taxes very soon is ludicrous.
I went home, completely discouraged by the results of the evening. (Though more impressed than ever with Joe Birkett) I crawled into bed and fell asleep, praying that it had all been the result of a really bad dream and perhaps if I woke up in the morning it would be different.
Well, it kind of was.
All across America - just not in the new "Vermont of the Midwest" -- pro-family voters got out and voted. Electing really fine men and women to the U.S. Senate and giving the President the legislative mandate now that so many felt he did not have in the year 2000. Finally, justices will be voted on. Homeland Security will be taken seriously. And the real answer to our nation's sluggish economy can now be enacted.
As I celebrated this morning, I was thankful for men like Norm Coleman, Jim Talent, Saxby Chambliss, and a fine woman Elizabeth Dole, who have now been employed to help restore the values that the American people believe in to the places they need be -- our nation's highest leadership.
I have never quite understood Charles Dickens' famous words, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Today, I think I do--just a little--though I can barely stomach what we will face here in Illinois for the next four years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin McCullough is the Host and Executive Producer of the afternoon show from 3-5 pm on WYLL AM 1160 (www.wyll.com). The "mission" of the show is to be the "daily intersection of news and current events through the dialogue of faith, conscience, and country."
Yes they are. I've said it before and I'll say it again. This was a necessary (if unfortunate) housecleaning of the corruption that George Ryan and the establishment elitist RINO GOP has wrought upon this state.
4 years from today, there will be ANOTHER house cleaning. There's a reason Illinois Voters only elect a Democrat to the Governor's mansion once every 28 years.
Some "republican" county you live in. Didn't I read that DuPage county went for Gore in 2000?
I live in Will county, we ain't much better... (sigh)
Hey, look on the bright side: Neither of us lives in C(r)ook County!
I worked on Salvi's campaign, and it's a damn' dirty shame what the establishment elitist GOP RINO's did to him then.
Al's a good guy. I hope he runs again.
Look @ the bright side: the GOP elitist bastards here in Illinois finally got their comeuppance!!!
btw.....our new Rat Gov is best buddies with Jesse Jackson....God Help Us!
It's up to the Conservatives still here to follow this Dark Age with a renascence that will make Illinois it a place that you'll want to return to.
Their last one, Dan Walker, went to prison.
The only good thing I can imagine coming of this is for the Conservative movement within the Republican Party to be invigorated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.