Free Republic

A report at the link below states that: Top Senate Democrat Harry Reid (pictured) made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones. Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis and Emil Jones are all three black. Reid’s choices are Lisa Madigan who is white and Tammy Duckworth is Vietnamese. Harry Reid says he is concerned about the ability of the appointee to win election in 2010. However, there will always be...

The revelation does not suggest Obama's new gatekeeper was involved in any talk of dealmaking involving the seat. But it does help fill in the gaps surrounding a question that Obama was unable or unwilling to answer this week: Did anyone on his staff have contact with Blagojevich about his choice for the Senate seat? Blagojevich and John Harris, his former chief of staff, face federal charges in an alleged shakedown involving the vacant Senate seat, which Illinois law grants the governor sole authority to fill. Obama said Thursday he had never spoken to Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy and...

Director of Illinois Dept. of Veterans' Affairs visits Quincy Duckworth comments on consideration for Senate By Alexis Hunt Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 9:48 p.m. QUINCY, IL -- Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled. Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There's already been speculation about his selection...from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth made an appearance in Saturday's Veterans'...

Democrat Tammy Duckworth won't seek a rematch in the 6th Congressional District next year against Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam. Her husband is back in Iraq, and she's got a new prominent job as Illinois veterans' affairs director. "I'm not going to run. It was a really hard decision. It just came down to 'Where can I get the most work done?'" she said Sunday. "(I did) a lot of soul searching about why I entered public life. Did I do it because I wanted to win the congressional seat or make things happen and get things done?" In the...

The national trend was to send Democrats to the House, but DuPage County held firm Tuesday, voting in Republican Peter Roskam over wounded Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in combat. The traditionally Republican DuPage gave Roskam a 6,000-vote margin, more than enough to overcome Democrat Duckworth's edge among suburban Cook County voters in the battle to replace the retiring Henry Hyde.

Rahm Emanuel, head of the Democrats’ House takeover effort, wants to win the Illinois 6th Congressional District more than any other seat in the House of Representatives. It is Henry Hyde’s old seat. As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Hyde is blamed by Emanuel for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, a historical black mark that will never be erased from the history books. Emanuel worker in Clinton’s White House and lived through the agony. He really wants to wants to win one for the Bubba. As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he has been in a position...

Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth was severely injured serving her country in Iraq, but that apparently wasn’t what it takes for the national Veterans of Foreign Wars to endorse her. Instead, the national VFW relied on the word of former Republican state Sen. Ray Soden of Wood Dale to back Republican Peter Roskam in the down-to-the-wire 6th Congressional District contest. Roskam billed the endorsement as a “great boost” to his campaign in the final days but admitted he sat on the endorsement until a few days before Tuesday’s election to have “the biggest possible influence.” World War II veteran Joe...

CHICAGO -- The Veterans of Foreign Wars' political action committee Friday endorsed a Republican congressional candidate with no military experience over a Democrat who lost her legs in combat in Iraq. The endorsement of GOP state Sen. Peter Roskam over Tammy Duckworth angered some Illinois veterans, as well as national figures such as former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a veteran who lost a leg in Vietnam. "They should be ashamed of themselves," he said. "They have some explaining to do to their members." Duckworth is a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the Army who lost her legs when her aircraft...

DJ VFW Endorses Illinois GOP Candidate Over Iraq War Veteran 11/03/2006 Dow Jones News Services (Copyright © 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) CHICAGO (AP)--The Veterans of Foreign Wars' political action committee Friday endorsed a Republican congressional candidate with no military experience over a Democrat who lost her legs in combat in Iraq. The endorsement of GOP state Sen. Peter Roskam over Tammy Duckworth angered some Illinois veterans, as well as national figures such as former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a veteran who lost a leg in Vietnam. "They should be ashamed of themselves," he said. "They have some explaining to...

"Now that the Democrats realize the mainstream media can no longer hide their true beliefs, and that the American people reject those beliefs, they are attempting to win elections by putting up spokesmen and candidates whom they believe are “unassailable”. First we saw Michael J. Fox..."

Few people who enter public life can ever hope to leave it casting as big of a shadow as Henry J. Hyde. The sixteen-term Congressman from Illinois sixth district is retiring this year, and he leaves behind a legacy as a passionate defender of conservative principles and also as one of the most fair-minded and equanimous members of Congress. Republican Peter Roskam is running to replace Mr. Hyde, and having worked for him back in the 1970's and then watched him in action over the years, he fully understands the size of the shoes he is seeking to fill. I'm...

CHICAGO, Feb. 18 The smiling candidate in rimless eyeglasses and a long woolen skirt maneuvers carefully among tables and chairs as she works a crowded Starbucks. She is taking small steps, and the reason for the slight awkwardness in her gait is not instantly clear. Reaching to shake hands with a voter, she says: "You may have heard of me. I'm the Iraq war vet who's running. I was injured over there." Talking with another, she says: "I actually lost both my legs. I can walk because I got really good health care." Tammy Duckworth, Democratic candidate for Congress, cannot...

Duckworth running low on campaign cash McSweeney has more money left than Bean October 17, 2006 BY SCOTT FORNEK Political Reporter After filling the airwaves with television commercials, Democrat Tammy Duckworth is heading into the crucial final weeks of the west suburban 6th Congressional District contest with a severely depleted campaign war chest. She had just $206,381 in the bank at the end of last month, while Republican rival Peter Roskam had $1,500,950. The numbers were closer in the area's other hot congressional race, the northwest suburban match between Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean and GOP challenger Dave McSweeney. Those are...

Tammy Duckworth makes the most dramatic entrance in American politics. She can't help it. Duckworth, the Democratic nominee in a tightly fought, expensive race for a traditionally Republican House seat in Chicago's seemingly endless western suburbs, lost both legs when the Army combat helicopter she was piloting north of Baghdad in 2004 was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Now she teeter-totters along unsteadily on high-tech artificial legs and a cane or gets around in a wheelchair. Her injuries, which also included a shattered right arm, sparked the political career of the first-time candidate, who was recruited by national Democratic leaders....

by Mark Finkelstein October 17, 2006 - 08:26 "General Pelosi, I'm Matt Lauer, and I'm reporting for duty!" OK, Matt didn't quite say that as 'Today' kicked off its 'The War at Home' three-part series this morning on the lives of American veterans once they return home from war. But judging from the opening episode and the tease of what's to come tomorrow, he might just as well. NBC is clearly doing its part to tend the Dems' Victory Garden. Of all the reporters in the NBC News stable, 'Today' tapped for this segment Jonathan Alter, a regular guest on...

With less than four months to go until the election, the two candidates vying for the seat of retiring U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde have raised almost equal sums, with Democrat Tammy Duckworth edging Republican Peter Roskam by about $16,000. Both have raised a little shy of $1.9 million, but from sources that demonstrate the sharp contrasts in a race that is key nationally in Democratic efforts to overturn the Republican majority in Congress. Duckworth's money has come primarily from individuals, as has Roskam's, but more of her contributors live outside the 6th District. Without a contested primary in March, Roskam...

Duckworth queried on don’t ask, don’t tell By Eric Krol Daily Herald Political Writer Posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 Democratic 6th Congressional District candidate Tammy Duckworth is at odds with two national gay rights groups over whether she supports repealing the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network put out a news release Wednesday praising Duckworth for supporting legislation that would repeal the ban on letting gays and lesbians openly serve in the military. But a campaign spokeswoman said Duckworth doesn’t support the legislation. “I think she only supports a repeal (of the ban) if it...

ADDISON, Ill. - You could hardly design a more intriguing contrast: man versus woman; a veteran legislator versus a political neophyte; anti-abortion candidate versus abortion rights proponent. If you live in Chicago’s western suburbs in the Sixth Congressional District you’ll get a chance to choose the winner of this face off. Your choice could decide whether Democrats gain control of the House. This is a district where President Bush won 53 percent of the vote in 2004. Now it’s up to veteran state legislator Peter Roskam to keep it a Republican seat in House. Since 1974, Republican Henry Hyde, best...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is giving Sen. John McCain, his potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination, an opportunity to show his new openness to tax reduction by scheduling repeal or reduction of the estate tax for consideration the week of May 4. McCain was prepared to vote for cloture on repeal of the estate tax shortly after Labor Day last year, but consideration was postponed indefinitely after Hurricane Katrina. Backers of McCain for president have promised he will support at least reduction of the estate tax, going along with his recent vote for reduced dividend and capital gains...

We’ve only just begun the primary season, but already there are strong signs that the Democrats’ strategy of recruiting veterans who served in Iraq is a bust. That’s the unavoidable conclusion that I have come to even after reading the recent press release from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Political Action Committee (IAVA PAC), which crowed about Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth’s March 21 primary victory in Illinois’ 6th district. Duckworth did win the Democratic primary, but she did so unimpressively. Her victory had to be a relief to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, but can’t be seen as...

Christine Cegelis will not endorse Tammy Duckworth, the winner in Illinois’s 6th Congressional District Democratic primary, because she has reservations about Duckworth’s positions on universal healthcare and free trade, a source close to Cegelis’s campaign said. Duckworth, a wounded veteran of the Iraq war, defeated Cegelis by 3 percentage points in last week’s hotly contested primary. Cegelis, a liberal Democrat, won 44 percent of the vote against Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in 2004. On Saturday, Illinois Democrats held a unity breakfast attended by Duckworth, party officials and Cegelis supporters who vowed to help Duckworth. Cegelis did not attend. Duckworth had...

CHICAGO (AP)  -- Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost her legs in combat two years ago, narrowly won the Democratic congressional primary nomination for the suburban Chicago district held by retiring GOP Rep. Henry Hyde. The 37-year-old, Thailand-born Duckworth, who has spent her recent years in Iraq and then in recovery at a military hospital in Washington, D.C., was heavily recruited by Democrats eager to give the national party more credibility on security issues. She captured major newspaper endorsements, more than $650,000 in contributions since announcing her candidacy in December and had the backing of Illinois\' Democratic senators, Barack...

If you want to discover how a perfectly healthy pink state turns into a lasting blue one, look no further than Illinois.For years, Republicans often won statewide and federal elective offices. But thanks to a bungling party "leadership" way out of touch with its constituency, Tuesday's primary election to select a GOP nominee for governor presents voters with indecision, disappointment or disgust. Among the candidates, "I don't know" has made a strong showing.We columnists have raked this field of candidates to the point of tedium, but why not? Why should Republicans be forced to choose among marginal, inexperienced, unqualified or...

Tomorrow is primary day in Illinois and there are three races to watch. The first, and biggest, is the GOP primary for Governor which has essentially boiled down to a two person race between moderate Judy Baar Topinka and conservative Jim Oberweis.Topinka is the only Republican currently holding statewide office (Treasurer) which demonstrates her appeal in a state where the GOP has basically been reduced to a smoldering heap of ruins. However, Topinka's longevity also has a downside; she has ties to the lowly-regarded Illinois political establishment and she served with former Governor George Ryan - who sits awaiting...

Iraq vet faces obstacles to winning Ill.-6 Dem nod By Peter Savodnik Local Democrats warn that, despite Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth’s popularity in Washington, she is likely to face an uphill battle in winning her party’s nomination to run for the seat now held by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). Duckworth, who officially filed yesterday to run for the House seat, lives outside the district and has entered the race barely three months before the March 21 primary. She is also running in the primary against a woman, computer consultant Christine Cegelis, who ran last year — and gave Hyde...

Wounded veteran: War 'a mistake' December 17, 2005 BY LYNN SWEET SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement Wounded Iraq war vet L. Tammy Duckworth, who launches her Democratic campaign for Congress today, said she would have not voted to authorize the war that cost her both of her legs and mangled her arm. Though President Bush's decision was a "bad one," the Army helicopter pilot said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times she was "proud to serve." Duckworth, 37, a political rookie, faces a three-way March Democratic primary battle for the 6th Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.)....