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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...

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...

Soldiers that were severely wounded, lost limbs, but are going back to Iraq

<p>Prayers are needed for one of our American heroes. Last week a Blackhawk was shot down by an RBG north of Baghad. The RPG went through the bottom of the aircraft through the cockpit, taking off the pilots legs, and out the top to the rotor system. The co-pilot was able to land the chopper.</p>

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...

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...

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...

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...

CHICAGO, Dec. 16 - During 13 months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Maj. L. Tammy Duckworth says, she did a lot of reading about American schoolchildren "losing our competitive advantage" with China. Encountering questions about her top-of-the-line prostheses while walking around a shopping mall, she says, made her ponder inequities in America's health care system. And there was plenty of time to critique the Bush administration's prosecution of the war in Iraq, where she lost both legs and partial use of her right arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was...

Associated Press LOMBARD, Ill. — Iraq war veteran L. Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot who lost her legs to a rocket-propelled grenade attack, formally announced her candidacy Sunday for the congressional seat of retiring Republican Rep. Henry Hyde. The Army major is one of about a half dozen Iraq war veterans running for office as Democrats, lending their military backgrounds to the party's argument that it can be strong on defense and national security, even as its leaders criticize President Bush's handling of the war. Duckworth says she wants to focus on health care, education and the economy in her...

<p>Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, took the Senate floor yesterday and likened American servicemen to Nazis . . .</p> <p>"When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here [at Guantanamo Bay]--I almost hesitate to put them in the [Congressional] Record . . .</p>

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.)....

The Talk Shows Sunday, December 18th, 2005 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Steve Case, co-founder of America Online. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Rice; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Army Maj. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq; Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.; Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.; Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President...

During 13 months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Maj. L. Tammy Duckworth says, she did a lot of reading about American schoolchildren "losing our competitive advantage" with China. Encountering questions about her top-of-the-line prostheses while walking around a shopping mall, she says, made her ponder inequities in America's health care system. And there was plenty of time to critique the Bush administration's prosecution of the war in Iraq, where she lost both legs and partial use of her right arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was flying over the Tigris...

Durbin takes rare stand to endorse candidate ----------------------------- WASHINGTON - Wounded Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth on Sunday will announce her plans to run in the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Henry Hyde's seat in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Duckworth was a helicopter pilot with a Peoria-based Illinois Army National Guard unit when her aircraft was shot down on Nov. 12, 2004. She lost both legs and suffered serious injury to her right arm and has spent much of the time since in surgeries and rehabilitation. She served with the 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation Regiment. "You can't meet this...

Sloniker Sends: Got the following from an Army Guard pilot from Missouri currently serving in Balad Iraq: Jim, I will do my best to recount what happened on November 12, 2004. I will only try to relay the facts. It is Standing Operating Procure for us to fly in pairs. Nov 12 was no exception. After what seemed like a routine flying mission over Baghdad. Dan Milberg was leading his flight of two UH-60 Blackhawk's back to our base at Balad. They were about 20 miles from Balad flying over a large date palm grove. The area North of Baghdad...