Posted on 02/06/2008 2:57:24 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
You could almost hear the chanting outside the building.
“O! Ber! Weis! O! Ber! Weis!” the crowd cheered, as they stood bathed in an intensely bright flood light in the ballroom of the Hampton Inn and Suites in Aurora, waiting for the victory speech. And when Aurora businessman Jim Oberweis took the stage at around 10:15 Tuesday night, he delivered.
RELATED STORIES • Illinois Congressional Races Opening with a quip about his three prior failed campaigns – “Boy, winning’s a lot more fun than coming in second, I can tell you that” – Oberweis claimed victory in both the regular and special GOP primary elections.
Oberweis soundly defeated his chief opponent, State Sen. Chris Lauzen, in every jurisdiction except Lauzen’s home city of Aurora.
(Excerpt) Read more at suburbanchicagonews.com ...
This sucks out loud.
I hope Jim Oberweis wins the election, but he’s bad material.
Fantastic. More sleazy, lying RINO trash in the tradition of Romney.
So what was the margin?
It’s a shame about Lauzen. I wonder if things would have turned out differently had he not polled the district regarding a potential run before Hastert announced his retirement.
” wonder if things would have turned out differently had he not polled the district regarding a potential run before Hastert announced his retirement.”
Not likely, as Hastert and Lauzen have never been political allies.
All I needed to know about this race was to see who was the Combine candidate and the non-Combine. Lauzen was endorsed by ex-Sen. Fitzgerald. Oberweis is business as usual.
Turnout in the GOP Congressional primary of the IL-14 exceeded the Dem primary. That is good news. We should keep the seat.
Obie portrayed himself as a conservative outsider who will shake up a broken D.C. and accused Lauzen of being a tool of the Combine. Sound familiar? Well, much of Obie’s supporters also backed Romney.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Right now, it seems that conservatives don’t want to win, but to have their egos stroked. This year, conservatives wish to “die happy”. I find it incredible at how conservatives are willing to give Romney a pass at some very liberal moves he made as Governor. If McCain did the same things that Romney did, he would have dropped out at Iowa.
I think it is rank mass hysteria. Some FReepers so willing to lower the bar to below ground level to accommodate liberal sleaze like Romney. It’s disgusting. Even if he was remotely Conservative, he was still a failed Governor. The funny thing is that had he tried to govern like one, and valiantly stood up against the rodents in MA, he would’ve had the credibility to run for President, even if he had lost reelection. Best example of that is Don Carcieri in neighboring RI. He knew he was in a losing situation, but stood like a rock as well as he could, and he still managed to pull out a reelection win in ‘06. If he were running for President, that would be someone worth considering (unfortunately, however, he’s backing Romney).
There indications that Romney may stay in the race until the very end to force McCain to “atone” for his sins. I think Romney could do this only if the Mittens are willing to finance it. I think Willard is tired of paying for his campaign and wants his followers to invest in him. He figures to cash in on the anti-McCain sentiment among conservatives.
This is what we've been discussing on the Illinois board:
Survey USA has a poll showing Oberweis losing to Foster 52-47. This would be really bad if Hastert’s seat flipped to the Dems.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/il14/
PhilCollins 03/06/2008 2:39:47 PM CST
Why do you think Foster is winning, according to that poll? In 2006, Hastert got 60%, and he usually got 70%-75%.
NotJustAnotherPrettyFace 03/06/2008 8:42:31 PM CST
Maybe it’s just me, but I think Oberweis’ radio ads are cheezy, esp. the background music, which is not hip at all.
Kuksool 03/06/2008 10:12:14 PM CST ool 03/06/2008 10:12:14 PM CST
Survey USA data on the IL-14 candidates
Is your opinion of Jim Oberweis ... favorable? Unfavorable? Neutral? Or, are you unfamiliar with Jim Oberweis?
38% Favorable
49% Unfavorable
12% Neutral
1% Unfamiliar
Compare to Democrat Foster:
Is your opinion of Bill Foster ... favorable? Unfavorable? Neutral? Or, are you unfamiliar with Bill Foster?
42% Favorable
31% Unfavorable
22% Neutral
5% Unfamiliar
I guess people don’t like the taste of Oberweis.
BillyBoy 03/06/2008 10:06:07 PM CST
Hastert won that district by over 60% during the overwhelming tidal wave of RAT turnout in 2006, running under the cloud of the Mark Foley scandal. This district is so solidly right-wing it makes Henry Hyde’s constituents look like liberals.
There’s NO reason why the GOP shouldn’t retain this seat if Republicans simply get off their butts and show up to vote in the special election. Every conservative who lives in IL-14 needs to show up on March 8 and vote Oberweis. Supporting Oberweis over Foster is non-brainer .
Bill Foster is a second tier, first time candidate and a goofy liberal to boot. The fact he barely won the nomination to John Laesch and they contested it for a week should have sealed his doom in this district.
It simply boggles my mind to see Oberweis supporters blame Lauzen for this, as if Lauzen endorsed Foster and is out campaigning for him. Lauzen supports the nominee. Any competent person with an “R” next to his name should win this district by default in a general election. If Oberweis does so poorly that he can’t win over Republican-leaning voters and independents in a district tailor-made to elect him, he has only himself to blame. What’s next? I suppose someone will blame Bill Brady for McCain winning Illinois.
Thoughts? It was repeated noted in the primary by pundits that “if Lauzen wins, he goes to Washington, if Oberweis wins, this seat is in play” and now it seems to be coming true. But it's amazing to me that a district Hastert easily held for years would so easily begin to lean to an unknown RAT candidate. Republicans in the 14CD already screwed this up in the primary, they BETTER not screw this up in the special election. This seat going RAT would be shapes of what happened to Speaker Foley's district in 1994.
Of course, the Oberweis gang will blame McCain, Hastert, Lauzen, Bill Brady, and the Combine for stabbing Obie in the back while conveniently overlooking the fact that Hastert and the NRCC blew a sizable investment on Obie.
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