Posted on 07/28/2002 11:25:53 AM PDT by BillyBoy
Peter has also pushed for the appointment of tough, new, independent federal prosecutors for 3 Illinois jurisdictions. The establishment (on both sides of the aisle) is already running scared. These appointments alone are enough to win my support. Peter is nobody's patsy. He may be quirky, but he is no RINO -- Peter is Peter.
Why bring up the irrelevant and unimportant?
Kirk is a good example of a liberal Republican who comes from a part of the state that is still controlled by a RINO bastion (Illinois' 10th district). He's the LONE Illinois "Republican" in congress with an American Conservative Union rating under 50% (Kirk scored a whooping 48%) That means he really does fit the New England-RINO mold that some try to falsely pin on Fitzgerald. And Kirk's voting record is so pathetic that it's actually MORE liberal than two moderate Democrat congressmen from Illinois-- Lipinksi (3rd) and Phelps (19th). Kirk apparently votes with the 'RATs over his OWN party a majority of time.
The problem I have with little Mark Kirk is that his "beliefs" seem to be driven by the latest polls in his district. See if you can find him supporting a conservative position that isn't strongly backed by the voters in Illinois. Spineless is incapable of taking a position on anything "contraversal". Also problematic is that he runs on the "Republican" ticket because he knows it helps him get elected, but he has no interest in going to bat for the party at all. Kirk insists he's an "independant", so maybe he should put up or shut up by running as such. Oh geeesh...that might risky for his career. Poor Mark.
Kirk and his organization cannot be defeated in the primary. Since Kirk basically "inherited" the job from former Congressman John Porter (another RINO), he has an army of patronage workers. The RINOs will insist one of their own is the only one who "can win" in the 10th district, but this theory has never been tested since they haven't run a conservative there in 30 years. Personally, I think it has a small but devout conservative voting block, given how the district is next to the ultra-conservative 8th district and keeps nominating RINOs by a small plurality.
The only way I see a conservative takeover of that district is if conservatives run a candidate against Kirk in the GENERAL election and empathize Kirk's liberal views so that he and the Democrat SPLIT the liberal vote. His views on abortion alone are so liberal than they are further left than ALL the other IL Republicans in Congress (even the pro-choice ones!) AND they are to the left of THREE IL Democrats (including liberal Jerry Costello!)
There are some risks because a 3-way race could help a Democrat win, but Kirk's 2000 victory and sizeable leads in the current race make me believe that district has gone from tossup to being brainwashed by Kirk devotees. Conservatives always vote for Kirk in the general because they have no other choice. As long as we can give them an honest, qualifed, dynamic alternative and let Kirk and a Democrat candidate try to outliberal each other for the left-wing constituency, we can theoretically win the district.
Sometimes the selection of moderates in the primary was not due to the GOP establishment rigging it, but conservatives not working hard enough to get involved. Take the 5th district GOP primary-- NO ONE paid attention to it, the media or the voters. Mark Augusti, a middle-of-the-road Republican, spent the most money and edged out conservative William Hurley for the nomination, 41% to 40%. That's right, a 1% margin of victory. Hurley had been former congressman's Michael Patrick Flangan's Chief of Staff-- he was obviously the better choice but the "default" Republican won by marginally spend a tad more money to get his name out to the Republican voters. No one bothered to check what he stood for.
Many freepers will just say "oh well, we can nominate Hurley next time in 2004". True, but 2002 is the only chance we had to run a conservative in an OPEN race for the 5th district. Next time, Rahn Emanual is likely to be the incubamt. So 2002 gave us a very slim chance of winning the general election in the 5th district....2004 gives us virtually no chance.
As it stands, MOST of the congressional slate this year is conservative candidates. As I indictated, we have a skeleton majority in the party positions now. Let's hope it lasts.
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL NOMINEES
Ray Wardingley, 1st District (Conservative)
Doug Nelson, 2nd District (Conservative)
Tony Lopez-Cisenros, 4th District (Conservative)
Mark A. Augusti, 5th District (Centrist)
Henry Hyde, 6th District (Conservative) Incumbant
Mark Tunney, 7th District (Moderate)
Phil Crane, 8th District (Conservative) Incumbant
Nicholas Duric, 9th District (???)
Mark Kirk, 10th District (RINO) Incumbant
Jerry Weller, 11th District (Conservative) Incumbant
David Sadler, 12th District (Conservative)
Judy Biggert, 13th District (Moderate) Incumbant
Speaker Dennis Hastert, 14 District (Consevative) Incumbant
Tim Johnson, 15th District (Conservative) Incumbant
Don Manzullo, 16th District (Consevative) Incumbant
Peter "Pete" Calderone, 17th District (Conservative)
Ray LaHood, 18th District (Moderate-Consevative)Incumbant
John Shimkus, 19th District (Consevative) Incumbant
For a supposed lifelong "Republican" who supported O'Malley, you sure seem obsessed with promoting EVERY candidate with a (LP) designation next to their name on the ballot. You don't even bother to see if they support conservative issues. Hmmm...
I live in the 1st congressional district and I am supporting conservative REPUBLICAN Ray Wardingley over the LP candidate (who doesn't even bother to campaign or tell people where she stands!) , although if I lived in Mark Kirk's district he would NOT get my vote.
Unfortunately, Kirk's district is a TWO-way race between him a Democrat clone. The 8th district is home to Congressman Phil Crane, the MOST conservative Republican in the entire Illinois delegation (he scored a perfect 100% from the American Conservative Union for the last FOUR years). Crane has my support, and the support of just about every Republican here for that matter.
So the LPI is putting up opposition against Crane but didn't bother recruiting anyone against Kirk in the 10th district. Since they draw most of their fiscally conservative voters from disgrunted Republicans, it would have been much wiser to leave Crane alone and go after the RINO. Oh well, that's LP logic for you.
With everybody except those who know him best -- his former colleagues in the Illinois State Senate .
He stands as much chance of getting re-elected in 2006 as Carol Mostly-Fraud.
You're right.
He's more of a self-absorbed jerk with delusions of grandeur. He and his daddy (the banker -- why not ask where his money came from) just know that Petey will be The Prez some day.
dts, you sound as though you know Petey personally. I know him from his days in the State Senate. How 'bout you?
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