Republicans won’t win if they insist on being the National White People’s Party

4 comments November 5th, 2008

As Barack Obama took the state in Grant Park, where 125,000 people had gathered to witness history being made, the TV camera panned over the massive crowd. It looked like America, which nowadays is fast-becoming a nation of minorities. This is the emerging America, and Obama is the first president of this new America.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party succeeded in driving nearly all nonwhites into the Democratic coalition. The GOP now bears close resemblence to the old National Party of the apartheid-era South Africa. Black voters voted Democratic 96 to 4 percent. Latinos voted Democratic two-to-one.

The Republicans are fast on their way to becoming a permanent minority for the simple reason that  there soon won’t be enough white folks to make up a majority. But it’s amazing to me that the Republicans do not seem to realize this. They not only don’t have minorities in their party, they do not seem to want them.

Christiansen wins — but it’s a narrow win

2 comments November 5th, 2008

Wow, if Democrat Paul Gorski had actually figured out that he had to raise money to have a real campaing, he might well have defeated Republican Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen.

Christiansen raised loads of money, had good campaign commercials, but he defeated Gorski, a county board member from Cherry Valley, 52 percent to 48 percent. Gorski never raised enough money to meet the requirement of the state Board of Elections to file a contribution disclosure statement. The threshold is $3,000.

Gorski ran four years ago and nearly defeated Christiansen, who at that time was serving as appointed chairman.

Still, a win is a win is a win, and Christiansen can be expected to continue his aggressive agenda for economic development, not traditionally the role of  a county board chairman.

Voters wanted change in the criminal justice system

1 comment November 5th, 2008

Some thoughts on the elections:

In both the Winnebago County state’s attorney’s race and in two judges races, voters signaled that they want change in key elements of the criminal justice system. People are really serious about reducing the state’s highest crime rate, and they chose Joe Bruscato, a young newcomer, to be state’s attorney, despite the fact that Chuck Prorok had been first deputy assistant state’s attorney under Paul Logli, the state’s attorney for 21 years until stepping down in 2007.

And it’s somewhat ironic that Logli, who was appointed as a circuit judge, lost his post in only the second election in his long career where he had to face an opponent. Lisa Fabiano defeated him with old-fashioned neighborhood canvassing,  something Logli apparently didn’t do enough of. We don’t know much of Fabiano, but we trust she’ll be a good judge.

The other history-making local election was Gwyn Gulley’s victory for circuit judge. She becomes the first black judge in the 17th Circuit’s history.

No upsets so far

Add comment November 4th, 2008

No upsets so far,  as Obama has won Vermont and McCain has won Kentucky, based on early returns. Key states to watch are Indiania, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Colorado and Florida.

Anti-Obama last-minute ad flurry may do the trick for McCain

2 comments November 4th, 2008

I was watching the cable news shows Monday night and during the breaks I must have seen that anti-Obama ad featuring Jeremiah Wright 10 times. That, I believe, combined with scary robo-calls in key states, may just scare enough rural and suburban voters to the polls to elect John McCain today.

Not a prediction, but it’s an educated guess  and I’ve been following election for more than 3 decades.

Are the polls stunningly wrong? Is there a McCain upset in the making? It might be, it could be …..

1 comment November 3rd, 2008

The McCain campaign believes it will pull off a stunning upset Tuesday, because polls that show Obama in the lead reflect polling of too many Democrats. Read about it in Politico

The  McCain folks say their own polling shows that the race was within the margin of error as long ago as Friday and that the Arizona senator is pulling ahead in key swing states.

Coal industry comment needs to be put in context

1 comment November 3rd, 2008

The irony about the “bankrupt coal industry” charge being made today by Sarah Palin is that the San Francisco Chronicle interview the charge is based on is more than a year old and has been available on its Web site for the whole time. If anyone bothers to listen to it, Obama is talking about how the coal industry will have to be responsibile for cleaning up its emissions, otherwise it will go bankrupt. In context, the interview sounds reasonable, and it reflects the way Obama talks about issues in a wide-ranging, intelligent way. The problem with that, is that isolated sentences and fragments can be easily taken out of context. Saying Obama wants to bankrupt the coal industry in Ohio on the last day of the campaign will be damaging to Obama, and it’s a state he needs to win.

Did Obama say he’ll bankrupt the coal industry?

2 comments November 2nd, 2008

Has Obama just done himself in with comments he made in January to the San Francisco Chronicle about bankrupting the coal industry? That won’t play well in West Virginia, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other coal producing states. The McCain campaign has capitalized on Obama’s remarks, leaked Sunday from a tape recording of the interview:  http://www.wsaz.com/political/headlines/33726759.html

Surprise! It’s the Jeremiah Wright pop-up ad

Add comment November 2nd, 2008

A Republican “527″ organization has unleashed $2.5 million worth of ads in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. Surprise! It’s Jeremiah Wright, plastered all over everyone’s TV in those states.

Wait-Tuite laste minute contributions

2 comments November 1st, 2008

In the 69th Illinois House race, state Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere, these contributions were reported on Oct. 30:

And his opponent, Greg Tuite, a Democrat from Rockford, reported: