Free Republic

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...

Popular-vote pact picks up steam A once-sleepy movement that would upend the Electoral College, reverse two centuries of constitutional practice and elect presidents by direct popular vote has quietly picked up momentum in recent days, with Republican Party leaders scrambling to stanch a steady stream of defections by GOP state lawmakers to the plan. *snip* Under the idea introduced in 2006 by Stanford University consulting professor John Koza, states that join the NPV compact pledge to give all of their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote - even if a majority of the state’s...

CHICAGO (CBS 2) CBS 2 News has learned that former Illinois governor Jim Edgar is being urged to consider a run for his old office. The pleas are coming from here in Illinois, as well as from Washington. He served two terms as governor; leaving Illinois in solid financial shape when he stepped down in 1999. He retired after 30 years in state politics, to the life of a college lecturer, corporate director and consultant. But he is now, for the third time in two years, being urged to get back into politics. Republican State Chairman Andy McKenna, Jr. said,...

Statement by Bush-Cheney ’04 Illinois Campaign Chairman Former Gov. Jim Edgar (R-IL) Regarding John Kerry's Negative Attacks(title edited for length)WASHINGTON, DC— Former Gov. Jim Edgar (R-IL), Bush-Cheney ’04 Illinois Campaign Chairman, issued the following statement regarding education: “Instead of his predictable negative attacks, John Kerry should be praising President Bush for making college more affordable for low-income students in Illinois. Thankfully, President Bush has eased the pain for millions of low-income and middle-class students in Illinois and throughout the nation by increasing Pell Grant funding by 47 percent to a record $12.9 billion, decreasing out-of-pocket expenses students would otherwise have...

Chicago and Springfield, IL - Today, Speaker and U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar joined Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman Gov. Marc Racicot and Bush-Cheney '04 Regional Chairman Bob Kjellander to announce the Bush-Cheney '04 Illinois Campaign Leadership Team at media availabilities in Chicago and Springfield. The Bush-Cheney '04 Illinois Campaign Leadership Team will help build a network of grassroots support and serve as messengers for the President's re-election campaign. "The Illinois statewide leadership team is made up of a diverse group of men and women with a great respect for both President Bush's optimistic...

Illinois Democrats looking to recapture retiring Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's seat have been mobilizing for months -- raising moneiy, rounding up endorsements, recruiting volunteers. Republicans, meanwhile, have had trouble even finding candidates. First Fitzgerald said he wouldn't seek a second term. Then political veterans Jim Edgar, Judy Baar Topinka and Jim Ryan bowed out. In the past month, a handful of newcomers have stepped in. With 17 months to go before Election Day, Republicans, already tainted by former GOP Gov. George Ryan's scandals, must now fight a costly, uphill battle to hold the seat. "They kind of had that head...

As a gaggle of Illinois Republicans eye the temptingly open U.S. Senate race now that former Gov. Jim Edgar has declined to run, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is determined to keep tabs on them with the help of an outpost just opened in Chicago. Until someone comes up with a snappier name, the overt operation is called the "Illinois Project'' and is renting space in the Illinois AFL-CIO office on Wacker Drive. Democratic campaign committee political director Paul Tewes spent a few days in Chicago in early April--before Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.) decided not to seek another term in...

One Ryan is skipping the U.S. Senate race, and another is jumping in. Former investment banker Jack Ryan announced Wednesday that he will run next year for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. That makes Ryan the first Republican to formally enter the race. A day earlier, former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan said he would not run. Ryan, the GOP's nominee for governor last year, said he chose to continue practicing law and teaching at Benedictine University after a discussion with his wife. "Marie and I pretty much decided I'm not going to run," Ryan said....

Former Attorney General Jim Ryan said Tuesday he will not run for the U.S. Senate--making him the fourth major Republican to opt out of the high-profile race in less than a week. The former GOP gubernatorial nominee's decision came as four wealthy Republicans moved closer to joining the contest to succeed Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-Ill.). North Shore businessman Andy McKenna Jr. said he will file the paperwork for a fund-raising committee today. Former investment banker Jack Ryan said he will issue a statement about his plans. Gold Coast accountant and lawyer John Cox said he is 95 percent sure...

CHICAGO - Despite pleas from national GOP leaders, the state treasurer said she won't run for the U.S. Senate seat that her fellow Republican, Peter Fitzgerald, is giving up after one term. "I am not fond of Washington. I prefer to live in Illinois," Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, also the state's GOP chairwoman, said Monday. "I have no desire to run, and I will not do so." Republican leaders had met with her Monday to try to persuade her to run. She is the only statewide Republican officeholder to survive a scandal-driven election debacle last November. If she resigned as...

PRICED OUT In the aftermath of former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar's decision not to seek Illinois' open Senate seat in 2004, word is trickling out about the reasons why Edgar's candidacy came to naught. Last week plans for him to run seemed to be on track. He and his wife had returned from Washington after a house-hunting expedition, upbeat about having a place to live. And then Edgar sent a representative to sit down with Republican Senate leaders to discuss financial support for his Senate campaign. "He wanted a firm commitment up front of at least $3 million from us,"...

He's up to the challenge. Democratic U.S. Senate contender Dan Hynes, who had all the advantages in a projected 2004 matchup against Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald, is facing a more difficult contest in the wake of Fitzgerald's withdrawal as a candidate for re-election. Hynes, 34, the two-term state comptroller, would be the underdog in a race against former Gov. Jim Edgar, 56, the Republican Party's consensus choice for the U.S. Senate. At the same time, Hynes has the potential to give Edgar a more competitive run than any Democrat in the field. In a series of statewide polls taken since...

It's called the countdown. Word is former Gov. Jim Edgar will announce his decision to run for the U.S. Senate within days, according to top Republican sources. President Bush wants Edgar to run. And so does Bush's top adviser Karl Rove, who hit town Thursday. "It's the world's worst-kept secret that George W. Bush and Jim Edgar are close personal friends who have the highest regards for each other. They have a great personal relationship," said Rove, who's in the Midwest for political fund-raising. *The flipside: But in case Edgar gets the heebie-jeebies, Rove said financial whiz Jack Ryan, who...

WASHINGTON--A spokesman for the U.S. Senate Democrats' political organization said Tuesday that if former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar runs for the Senate, Democrats will hit him on ethics issues. The move appears to be designed to discourage the state GOP's most formidable candidate from getting into the race. "We will use Edgar to put the final nail in the coffin of the Republican Party of Illinois,'' said Brad Woodhouse, the spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The strategy will be to link Edgar to the scandals of former Gov. George Ryan, which contributed to a near-sweep for Democrats in...

CHAMPAIGN -- Former Gov. Jim Edgar met with his closest aides Friday to discuss the pros and cons of coming out of political retirement to run for the U.S. Senate. Edgar would be the early favorite in the 2004 race for outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's seat. But despite some high-powered lobbying from his party's leaders -- including President Bush -- the former governor is still weighing his options. "I don't think Jim Edgar has made up his mind. I think it is significant, obviously, that he has left the door open," said Al Grosboll, Edgar's former deputy chief...

Glenn Poshard, the 1998 Democratic nominee for governor, is weighing a possible bid for the U.S. Senate. Poshard, 57, who has just stepped down as vice chancellor for administration at Southern Illinois University, has been encouraged by political allies to make a run for the seat that is being vacated by Republican Peter G. Fitzgerald. His populist message and dynamic campaign style would add excitement to the Democratic primary. At least six other Democrats are already in the field. Poshard has encouraged state Comptroller Dan Hynes to make the race and many of his former allies including Cook County Commissioner...

WASHINGTON--Former Gov. Jim Edgar is calling a summit meeting of advisers today as he ponders whether to run for the U.S. Senate. "The threshold question is whether he wants to be a United States senator at this time of his life," said Mike Lawrence, who was Edgar's press secretary when he was governor. "He will ask a lot of questions. He is not impulsive." Edgar is expected to work through the best-case/worst-case scenarios rather quickly and not let a melodrama develop over whether he wants to leave his comfortable life of teaching, sitting on corporate boards and high-level lobbying. The...

Update: The Hotline says "All the signs are there for a 'yes' on IL SEN from ex-Gov. Jim Edgar: The dinner with NRSC folks at Da' Ditka's (mmmm, Ditka's), Rove will keynote a 5/2 event for IL GOP donors; and Edgar, himself, contending that not just any GOPer could win. So at this point, wouldn't it be an embarrassment to Bush if he turned it down? Just as importantly, Edgar's candidacy does more than potentially keep a GOP seat in play, it puts a critical 'Blue' state for WH Dems into the 'Gray' swing area."

Jim Edgar Revisited Thursday, April 17, 2003 By The Leader-Chicago Bureau (chicago@illinoisleader.com) - Should the former governor run for Fitz' seat? Jim Edgar, Governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999 Governor Jim Edgar and his wife, Brenda SPRINGFIELD -- In the aftermath of Peter Fitzgerald's announcement that he would not seek re-election as U.S. Senator in 2006, an array of names has burst on the Republican scene -- some new, some old. Jim Edgar's name is at the top of the list. Would he do it? Would he be able to win? Edgar is being promoted by the Illinois GOP...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Within hours of Illinois Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's surprise announcement that he will not seek re-election, top Illinois Republicans were courting former two-term Gov. Jim Edgar to become the party's standard bearer in 2004. "He's clearly our dream candidate," said Bob Kjellander, an Illinois member of the Republican National Committee, who spoke with Edgar early Tuesday before Fitzgerald publicly confirmed his decision. Edgar, a moderate who has twice rejected party appeals to run for Senate and retired as a popular incumbent in 1999, said the race was wide open and he was not ready to enter it. "I...