GOTV Weekend for Robin Kelly

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Sunday February 24, 2013 · 10:21 AM PST

2013/02/24 · 10:21

"We're putting the band back together again." I heard this not once, but twice, yesterday -- about two different groups of people! -- as we were picking up packets and heading out the doors to get out the vote for Robin Kelly.

The number of former Obama field organizers (and community organizers, if you want to know) in this campaign is noteworthy. I'd bet there hadn't been this many FOs in one room single their last collective staff meeting.

But there were plenty of people who had been supporting Barack Obama and Robin Kelly since before anyone ever throught we'd elect a president from these parts. And the old-timers think of themselves as "Team Robin" from way back.

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Saturday February 16, 2013 · 9:49 AM PST

2013/02/16 · 09:49

The president returned to his hometown yesterday. Given the excitement that generally surrounds the time when the Obamas return to Chicago, you might have expected it to be the talk of the town.

You might, but not yesterday. Yesterday, Chicago -- and the 2nd Congressional District -- was consumed by the news that Jesse Jackson agreed to plead "guilty to unlawful use of campaign funds" and his wife agreed to plead guilty to one count of tax fraud. How the mighty have fallen.

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Thursday September 01, 2011 · 1:15 PM PDT

2011/09/01 · 13:15

Aaron Krager reminds us that the Congress Hotel Strike is in its 3,000 day, the longest strike in the country's history.

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Thursday July 28, 2011 · 7:53 AM PDT

2011/07/28 · 07:53

We are told that "the Republican ideal embodies a strong father figure," but it seems to me that Republicans are more like dead-beat dads. The debate over raising the debt ceiling has made this abundently clear. But what dead-beat dads and Republicans in these debt ceiling debate do that is most damaging is that they not only make everything unpredictable -- and, thus, make it more difficult to move forward -- but they are prone to make everything into a crisis.

Maybe it's so they can stay at the center of attention. But I suspect that it's really a matter of control.

Republicans like to say that the debt ceiling is like our national credit card. But they don't take that analogy far enough. The national debt is just like any debt, and that means that we have an obligation to pay it off. The debt exists for spending that has already occurred, which is why they keep talking about taking away the credit card.

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Tuesday July 12, 2011 · 11:54 AM PDT

2011/07/12 · 11:54

On Saturday, just as we've done on every Saturday save one, over the past few months, a group from Team HOPE went up to Ripon, Wisconsin to help Fred Clark in his primary election against a fake Democrat. The people that went with me are all experienced canvassers from the South Suburbs of Chicago, each who have been through an election day in April (Illinois has municipal elections in odd-numbered years).

As usual, the experience was pleasant. Although Ripon is where the Republican Party was founded, as well as the home of recall target Luther Olsen, the people I talked to on Saturday were eager to go out and vote for Fred. Most people remembered that there was an election today (Tuesday), although a few needed the reminder. After all, that's why we do GOTV.

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Friday January 14, 2011 · 8:32 AM PST

2011/01/14 · 08:32

I got word yesterday that Dave Gonzalez, a current vendor (he has some kind of contract with the city) and candidate for mayor in Chicago Heights, has called a meeting for this Saturday of all department heads and employees who work for the city. Department heads made phone calls -- on city time, using city resources -- demanding that employees attend this "mandatory meeting." According to one source, they were told that there would be "consequences" for those who didn't show up.

This is, of course, illegal. Municipal employees are protected by both Shakman and Rutan, according to election law expert Richard Means. Means was the lawyer who had an election overturned in Gary, IN and literally wrote the book on election law in Illinois.

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Thursday October 21, 2010 · 7:17 AM PDT

2010/10/21 · 07:17

It never occurred to me that anyone in Illinois envied Indiana. Here we are, with Chicago, the jewel of the Midwest, the gravitational force that draws people from throughout the region, and one of our gubernatorial candidates actually wants Illinois to be more like Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee???

I've heard of people being ashamed of their family, but I guess I had never witnessed someone being ashamed of their state. More to the point, why would anyone want to be like Indiana?

I get to see how bad Indiana is every single school day. I live in a school district of some renown close to the border, and one of the problems the district has is that people outside the boundaries of the district try to get their kids in it. So every morning, when the train comes, you see a line of kids walking from the train to school. Employees who are supposed to verify residency have told me that many of these kids who try to sneak into the school come from Indiana.

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Wednesday September 08, 2010 · 1:10 PM PDT

2010/09/08 · 13:10

'OMG! Rich Daley isn't running for re-election! The fallout will reverberate all the way down to the South Suburbs!'

Sometimes people over-exaggerate Chicago's influence on the suburbs. Anybody who even considered the above (I paraphrased from a conversation I had yesterday, but don't recall the words exactly -- or possibly even closely) really doesn't understand what's been happening down here.

Alex Lopes, mayor of Chicago Heights, just died, leaving that city in turmoil. Doug Price argues that this is the only thought on the minds of the political elites in the Heights, and he's probably right.

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Friday August 27, 2010 · 5:51 PM PDT

2010/08/27 · 17:51

Newsflash: voters are angry. Democrats will try to knock on 200,000 doors tomorrow and I'm betting some of them will be surprised.

I got a glimpse of that today. I was out running errands in my "League of Conservation Voters" shirt -- which almost everyone misreads as "League of Conservative Voters" -- and the check-out lady asks me, "so who do you vote for?"

Now I have to say that I was taken aback. I mean, I don't usually have checkers try to engage me in political discussions and I almost never know what shirt I'm wearing (guy, so who cares what clothes I have on -- I figure I'm lucky when they "match"). But after a momentary pause, I say, "I'm voting Democrat."

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Tuesday June 29, 2010 · 5:07 AM PDT

2010/06/29 · 05:07

Like just about anybody who could possibly be considered an influence on public opinion (and you can be sure they defined that very broadly), I received a ***Media Advisory*** from Kirsten Kukowski last night at 6:13 PM. It declared:

Kirk to Discuss U.S. Senate Race

Congressman Mark Kirk will discuss the U.S. Senate race Tuesday, highlighting his vision for creating jobs, renewing economic growth and tackling the important issues facing our state.

Given my frequent observation that Mark Kirk won't take questions from average voters, let alone the media, you'd think that I'd be all excited. You'd think.

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Monday June 07, 2010 · 1:10 PM PDT

2010/06/07 · 13:10

You can't blame Republicans for trying. After all, Democrats would do the same thing. But, still, I had to chuckle at this item in the Hotline On Call blog from the National Journal:

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Monday May 31, 2010 · 7:50 AM PDT

2010/05/31 · 07:50

For those who have served in the military, there is nothing worse than claiming medals that one didn't receive -- or awards that one didn't get. Mark Kirk (R-Wall Street) has been "claiming he received the U.S. Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year award for his service during NATO's conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s." In doing so, he dishonored those who served -- and, especially, those who died in the service of this country.

No one who has met Mark Kirk could express surprise. The very definition of a Washington politician, Kirk will say (and, apparently, do) anything to get what he wants. Kirk would love for us to believe that he didn't recognize the difference between the prestigious Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award and the rather unknown Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year.

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GOTV Weekend for Robin Kelly

The Tarnished 2nd and Hope for a change

As Congress Hotel Strike reaches 3,000 days it is time to remember

The Party of Deadbeat Dads

If it's Tuesday, It must be Election Day (in Wisconsin)

IL: Chicago Heights' mayoral candidate Dave Gonzalez crossing the Shakman line

Bill Brady and his Indiana/Kentucky/Tennessee envy

Implications of Daley's Decision in the South Suburbs

Throw the Bums Out

IL-SEN: Mark Kirk Attempts to Change the Subject

IL-GOV: Fabricating Connections with Rod

IL-Sen: Mark Kirk - Dishonoring America's Vets