Free Republic

First Lady Michelle Obama returned to her hometown Thursday and decried the effects of gun violence on Chicago’s youth as she told a group of campaign donors to “write the biggest, fattest check that you can possibly write” to help Democrats make a better future for children. The First Lady noted that all children deserve a bright future of opportunity, but it was not happening in some Chicago neighborhoods. Donors paid from $500 per person to $20,000 per couple, and the First Lady asked them to give more.

An immigration overhaul may not have enough GOP support to pass the House, but the idea has found some Republican support in Illinois. Former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., is slated to join a number of prominent Illinois Republicans and CEOs on Tuesday to call on GOP leaders to pass a national immigration overhaul. Republican Reps. Aaron Schock and Adam Kinzinger are also scheduled to give video testimonials on the subject. The event is hosted by the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition, and it’s being held at the prestigious Chicago Club in the heart of the Windy City. Among the guests...

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Democrats went all-in Thursday with their election-year class warfare theme as Speaker Michael Madigan pitched the idea of asking voters to raise taxes on millionaires, Senate President John Cullerton advanced a minimum-wage increase and Gov. Pat Quinn compared wealthy opponent Bruce Rauner to TV villain Mr. Burns. The moves continued a Democratic push to highlight income inequity that started Tuesday night before Rauner had even claimed his narrow victory in the Republican primary for governor. Rauner and Republican legislative leaders have countered by accusing Democrats of being tax happy and trying to drive a wedge between the...

Former Miss America Erika Harold lost her longshot bid on Tuesday to unseat first-term Rep. Rodney Davis as Illinois primary voters cast their ballots... Davis received 55 percent of the vote to Harold's 41 percent in the downstate district. Another candidate, Michael Firsching, a veterinarian who lost in a 2012 race, won 4 percent. Davis, 44, declared victory about 10:45 p.m. He won the 2012 race by slightly more than 1,000 votes... Harold, 33, who was Miss America 2003, is an attorney and a Harvard Law School graduate whose battle to unseat Davis was seen as uphill from the outset...

Gun owners know that registration always leads to confiscation. Joseph Stalin’s firearms confiscation was a tremendous success for the Socialist state. Under the Tsar, Russia was one of the most heavily armed societies on earth. That all changed when Stalin and the communists took control. Stalin was able to control, starve, punish and imprison a defenseless people… after he took their guns. (Zinnfigur)

PPP: US Senate IL: Dick Durbin (D) 51% - Jim Oberweis (R) 36%

Former White House chief of staff William Daley abruptly dropped out of the race for Illinois governor Monday, signaling he wasn't sure he wanted to devote time to a long, hard campaign followed by at least four years in office. The decision leaves Gov. Pat Quinn without a prominent challenger in the Democratic primary next March, unless another candidate makes a late entry into the race. Daley spokesman Peter Giangreco confirmed that the son of late Mayor Richard J. Daley and brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley was ending what many had believed would be a serious challenge to...

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn is tossing aside the decades-old tradition of Democrats throwing a political rally at the Illinois State Fair, but he denies that’s because Democrats are in disarray, he got booed heavily last year or that he’s facing a tough primary challenger. No, the Democratic governor says that Wednesday’s Governor’s Day at the state fairgrounds will not be the place for the usual political speeches, sign waving and blasting of Republicans. It will be filled with music and entertainment instead.

Downers Grove business owner and West Point graduate Doug Truax (True-axe) will announce Monday morning he is seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for Illinois’ senate seat currently held by Dick Durbin. “Dick Durbin and his crew have been in charge in Illinois and the United States for years. Their policies are not working, yet they continue to pursue them again and again as we sink deeper into economic stagnation,” Truax says in an announcement video posted to Youtube.

A 33-year-old former Miss America says she plans to challenge first-term U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis in the 2014 Republican primary. Erika Harold announced her campaign Tuesday at Urbana High School. She grew up the Illinois city and recently moved back there from Chicago.